Cat Got Your Tongue?
by oooSilverWolfooo
Summary: Bella is over the Cullens, over feeling hurt, over being the human side project. She's happy spending her days with Jake and pushing everyone else away, but then something changes- Jake changes. He hurts her just as bad as the Cullens, and now there is a new family in town, watching her, that she's certain is not at all human. [Bellice]
1. Chapter 1

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 1

There is a moment when you wake up, a moment of complete ignorance and obliviousness. There is that moment, that single insignificant moment that you are just coming into the wakefulness of consciousness that you know nothing at all. You don't know what the last thing you did before bed was, you don't know what time it is, let alone how light it is in your room, and you don't even remembers the horrors that were yesterday.

But only for that one peacefully blissful moment, because the next, it all comes flying right back like boomerang. No matter how many times you throw it and try to forget it exists, it'll come right back to smack you in the head.

I so hate, yet love, that one moment.

My hand comes down on the alarm clock as it startles me from my dreams, easily finding the off button without having to even so much as look at the thing.

I sit there on the edge of the bed, waiting for either the familiar stabbing pain in my chest, or the chilling numbness to take hold. Nothing happens besides a slight throb where my heart should be and I sigh as I push myself onto my feet.

Quickly changing and brushing my teeth in the bathroom, I soon find myself once again, like every day since that day, staring at myself in the mirror.

With dark hair that's almost black, chocolate eyes, lips not to plump and a light pink, and pale skin, I would call myself a decently pretty person. But that person isn't what I see anymore and it makes me grimace every time I look her.

Instead my hair seems to have lost its usual volume, my brown eyes have unattractive bags underneath from countless sleepless nights, and my once pretty pale skin looks almost translucent.

But I do look better than I had in that first week that they left. I carefully went through faces; first, complete breakdown where all I did was cry so much that even I got annoyed by it. It only lasted a week but the pain was, is, very much real.

Then the really terrible one: numbness. That one really scared Charlie, so much so that after two weeks, he threatened to send me to Florida to live with Renee and Phil.

After that, I found an even more effective way of keeping the pain out, but not looking so much like a zombie. After three weeks of this stage, I'm slowly looking like my normal self and I actually found some happiness to go in my life.

I watch myself carefully as indifference slowly slides over my face along with my heart. The way I see it is, if I don't care for anything or anyone, nothing can hurt me.

Jake is the only exception. He makes me laugh, he makes me smile and I need him as much as I needed Ed-… Him. Jacob is my sun.

But it's okay to let him in; he promised he would never hurt me like they did. He has no reason to because he is completely, undeniably, human.

After my mask is set in place, I stride out of the bathroom and go to the kitchen for breakfast, only tripping on the stairs once.

One glance out the window reveals the cruiser gone, therefor, Charlie as well. I eat my breakfast in silence before taking off to school, getting there just before the bell rings.

The school day is uneventful. People skirt a wide berth around me and the normal puppy-acting followers (Mike and Eric) keep to themselves like they have for the past four weeks. Everyone has seemingly gotten used to me and now I'm just background chatter like all the other people in this town.

Except, instead of being known as Bell-the-new-girl, I'm now Bell-the-depressed-girl-who-got-ditched-by-the-Cullens.

I wince as someone steps on my foot passing me in the halls.

Like the past five weeks, for lunch I sit by myself at the table He had first had lunch with me at. I sit alone at my table in the Biology classroom, my partner (Him) having moved to get away from me. At first, I had tried skipping, but Charlie got onto me about it the second day so I haven't done it since.

After the final bell, I make my way to my safe haven, my happy place, and my sun.

Jacob is running out of the house before I can turn off the engine, no doubt having heard it a mile away, and pulling me out of my old truck before I can put on the parking brake.

I laugh as he easily spins me around, burying my face into his neck and smiling into his warm skin, so very different from theirs. I love Jacob. He's like my younger (but taller) brother.

He sets me down, making me stumble before I can gain my footing.

"So what are we doing today?" I ask crossing my arms over my stomach.

"Well, I was thinking that we could go meet Embry and Quil down at the beach."

My smile grows wider at hearing this, having grown quit fond of them and them me.

"Well, let's go then." I say, quickly hooking our arms together. "You really should stop growing, I swear there is something in the water here that's making all you boys grow like vines." I comment, noticing how he seems to be like two inches taller than just yesterday.

He laughs and reaches over to pat me on the head with his other hand. "Maybe you're just shrinking Isa."

My heart sears with warmth at the nickname he had started calling me. Nothing about it reminds me of him and it's so incredibly Jacob that it couldn't be anything else.

"I'm not the mountain, Jay." I reply.

"No, you're more of a tiny pebble."

I roll my eyes and bump his shoulder with mine, but the only good it does is knock me off balance and trip.

His happy guffaw makes me grin despite my embarrassment.

After a ten-minute walk filled with mindless chatter, we reach the rocky banks of the ocean smelling heavily of salt.

In the distance I see two forms pushing and tackling each other as they race to be the first one to our sides and soon I can actually make out the faces of who is who.

Embry suddenly gets a mouth full of sand and rocks as Quil rams into him from behind and bounds over like a happy puppy.

"Isa!" He calls, snatching me from Jacob's arms and pulling me into a hug where Embry soon joins us.

"Hey Isa!" He says loudly in my ear and I just grin.

They had also taken up the nickname, claiming the name 'Bella' to be boring, but I had no qualms about it. They were friends and as solid as Jake was. They were my best friends, and would never hurt me like the Cullens did.

My feet leaving the ground bring me out of my happy musings and I instinctually squeak in fear. Horror quickly replaces it as the water line grows increasingly closer.

"Embry! Don't you dare! I swear to god, if you don't put me down right now, I'll-" My threat is broken off by my own shriek as I find myself suspended in air for a few quick seconds before I'm submerged in cold water.

I break the surface sputtering and laughing as hard as the boys.

* * *

 **A/N: Another one of the stories I started and just want to get out there. This one has quite a few chapters written though, so updates might be somewhat consistent until I run out. Then it will just be whenever I feel inspired. Just so you know, reviews do inspire me! (hint hint, nudge nudge)**

 **~Silver~**


	2. Chapter 2

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 2

The next day, I look up from my lunch table as a strange feeling strikes me, and my breath catches.

Five people are sitting at the Cullen table, a table that has been empty for over two months, and for a moment I believe that it's them; that they came back.

The feeling is just as quickly snuffed out as I see that though they are very beautiful people, they do not have chalky pale skin or golden eyes that can be seen from across the room. They do not sit in silence looking every other way as they ignore their food and talk so fast and low that no human can understand.

This group is very rowdy, as much as any other table, and are shoving each other with wide smiles and scarfing down heaps of food.

A gasp escapes my lips as a pain so sharp and sudden pierces my chest so hard that I have to clench my sides to keep my chest from shattering into shards.

I watch as one of the boys kick a chair out from underneath one of the girls. She goes falling to the floor, but right as I think she's going to hit, her foot snaps out to catch herself. A sixth person, another girl, comes striding across the lunchroom floor and easily dumps that same boy onto the floor. Unlike the other girl, he doesn't have time to catch himself as his butt smacks into the tile.

The table laughs as he picks himself up with a smile, shoving one of the guys closest to him.

I don't recognize this group, but it's odd for there to be new students in this school without everybody knowing. Then again I don't pay attention much.

There are three girls in all now with the remaining three being guys. All of them, including the girls, are incredibly tall. Like, Jacob tall, maybe even more so.

The boy that I first noticed, the one who kicked out the girl's chair, is maybe six foot ten with bulging muscles. He has longish black hair that falls over his eyes but it doesn't look emo on him. The guy next to him is maybe an inch taller but his hair is a light brown that looks hacked off with a pair of kitchen shears, and the final boy must be the tallest yet. His hair is shaved short but I can easily tell that his hair is a blond. He has stubble dusting his jaw, and he scratches it idly as he listens to something one of the girls is saying. All three have muscles that could prove a challenge for Emmett if he were he human.

The girl who had dumped the black haired guy, must be six foot four with thick black hair that falls to the middle of her back and must be the palest of the group. The girl that almost fell as dark brown hair, also thick and falling to mid back and must be the tannest of the group, only a little lighter than Jacob.

The last girl must be six foot six with light brown hair that falls all the way to her waist. She seems to be the most subdued of the group, though not by much.

The scraping of a chair brings me from my thoughts, and I look over to see Angela smiling softly at me.

Out of everyone of my old group, she's the only one who still talks to me sometimes, and unlike everyone else, I don't mind her presence.

I nod my head in the direction of the new students and raise an eyebrow in question.

"They moved here a week ago but this is their first day." She says in answer to my unspoken question.

"What's their story?" I ask as uninterested as I could, but I am actually quit curious.

I know that Angela isn't one for gossip so she'll just give me the facts, not some wild conclusions like Jessica always jumped to.

"It's actually kind of sad. They're all adopted except for Angel- the boy with the light brown hair. Elliot and Ivy- the girl and boy with black hair- are real siblings. Apparently their moms were close friends but when they died in and accident, Mrs. Pisică adopted them so they wouldn't go into foster care.

Eva, the girl with light brown hair, was her sisters kid but she died when she was eight so she took her in too. Mrs. Pisică got remerried a few years ago but he died a year later in a fire, leaving her his kids too. Their names are Ian and Alexis."

I nod and look over the group, once again remembering the Cullens. Their 'backstories' were very similar. Except this group is human. Maybe. They are all really tall but that doesn't prove much.

Angela's soft hand on mine brings my attention back to her.

"Are you alright?" She asks with real concern written across her features.

I allow my indifference facade to drop for just a moment to show both my pain and scincerity. "I'm getting better."

She nods and smiles in relief while pushing up her glasses. "That's good, I've been woried about you."

"I'm sorry." I tell her, squeezing her hand slightly. She nods in response and stands up as the bell rings.

I glance one more time at the new kid's table, noticing that they are already rushing out the cafeteria doors and into the rain. They seem unbothered by the chill in their light sweaters at cut off jeans.

Elliot quickly takles Ivy making them both tumble to the ground in a heap of limbs.

I follow the wave of students and make it to my class just as the bell rings, but I freeze at the door. Sitting in his seat, is Ivy. I take a second to asses my insouciant mask and make sure it's still in place before moving forward to take my seat. I have to force myself to not glance in her direction.

I know how much I hated at the attention I got when I was new, and I was going to make a point on not doing the thing that I hated. Staring.

As Mr. Banner starts to talk, though, I get a tap on my shoulder.

"Hello." She says.

 **"Hello. I am Edward Cullen. I'm sorry about last week; I wasn't feeling like myself."** I blink and subconsciously cross my arms to hold my ribs together.

"Hey." I say turning to her. Her eyes, I can now see, are a very pretty green with an even brighter green ring around her iris. It seems to glow slightly as I steadily meet her eyes.

She frowns slightly. "I'm Ivy Pisică, It's nice to meet you."

I nod to her. "Bella Swan. Did all of you take the last name of your adoptive mother?"

She smiles now, aparently happy to engage in conversation with me. "Yes, she has always been like a mother to us and it's kind on an honorary thing, using her sure name." Her eyes sparcle. "Pisică means Cat in Roman."

"Cool." I say and turn back to the front. She seems to slump slightly in her seat and I vaguely wonder if I had upset her somehow. I don't know how, I don't know her or her me.

She doesn't try to speek to me again and I do just the same.

In gym I discover that two of the boys, Ian and Angel, and the girl Alexis are in the same class. Coach Clapp calls roll, stumbling over the name Agathangelos.

Angel quickly speaks up. "You can just call me Angel sir, I find it much easier."

He nods in agreement before ordering us to run laps where I quickly move out of the way to walk the sidelines. Despite my best efforts, I still trip three times. The twins and Angel have no trouble, and by the end of their fast pace, they are still laughing and shoving eachother, not even out of breath.

After that, the day quickly ends.

I'm fishing through my backpack in a hurry to get to Jacob's when I run into someone that could have been a brick wall.

I tumble to the ground, my backpack's contents spilling as well.

I sigh as I reach my scratched up hands for my books while the person above me apologises prefusly. Hands scramble to help and burn mine when they brush, like the owners have a fever.

"Look, it's fine alright?" I say looking up into the eyes of Angel. His worried eyes are blue with a distinctive green ring around the irises.

I mentally groan as another connection, another similarity, is locked in place. These new students are looking less and less human every second and I can't help but feel that my life is going to come in a complete circle.

"Are you sure? You fell pretty hard." He helps me put the last of the things in my bag and I snatch up my keys from the concrete.

"Don't worry about it, I've had far worse spills and I'm sure that it wont be the last." _Especially if there are going to be even more supernaturals hanging around_ , I mentally add.

"If you're sure." He says and hesitantly turns away to find the rest of his family by an old van with a dent in the back that looks, to me, like a perfict fit for a body.

I slip into my truck and drive away without so much as looking back. I will learn their secret, only quicker this time, because I know now that the supernatural is very much a logical option.

But for now, right this minute, I'm perfectly content to be in the company of my best friend.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, here's the next chapter, enjoy and please excuse any spelling or grammar errors, I'm sure there are a bit. Please review.**

 **~Silver~**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Nov 30

In the little town of Forks, Washington, you can't tell the difference between sunrise or sunset. Both are a dark dreary grey with the sun hidden behind thick clouds that hardly ever dissipate.

But I have come to love the sky and the constant cover of clouds. There is nothing bright to hurt my eyes except new florescent lights at school. The gloomy quilt of fog has become like a security blanket to me, especially now sitting on the cliffs that over look the ocean, curled up into my best friends' warm body and a steaming cup of hot chocolate clutched between my freezing fingers.

After two weeks, everything has changed in my sanctuary except for Jake.

"Any word of Quil and Embry?" I ask.

"No Isa." He says softly. "They're still hanging out with that Sam guy and they keep avoiding me."

I sigh and snuggle deeper into his warmth. "It scares me." He admits. "They used to hate Sam and now they're following him around like he's a god? It just doesn't make sense! And they're always looking at me like they're already planning my funeral."

"What?" I ask sitting up straighter.

He shakes his head. "It's probably nothing. It's just that I feel like something bad is going to happen to me, and they already know what's going to happen."

"Have you told Billy?"

"The elders say that Sam is protecting the tribe. Protecting the tribe from what?!" He seethes, hands shaking slightly.

"Jay, can you promise me something?" I ask hesitantly.

"Anything." He says without hesitation.

"Promise me that you'll never leave me."

He takes me by my shoulders and looks me seriously in the eye. "I promise you Isa, that I will never hurt you like they did, and that I will _never_ leave you."

"Good." I say sniffing. "Cause if you do, I'll miss my mountain."

"And I'd miss my pebble."

I laugh despite my tears and hug him tightly only to pull back soon after with a frown.

"Are you okay Jake, you're burning up." What I once thought to be a comfortable warmth, I now realize is unnaturally hot.

"I have been feeling a little weird all day." He shrugs. "But not bad."

"I think you should go home Jacob."

He sighs and hauls himself to his feet. "Fine, you coming too?"

"Naw." I say handing him my mostly empty mug. "I'll find my way back in a bit. Get some rest Jake, and call me when you feel better."

He nods. "And _you_ don't go tripping off any cliffs while I'm gone."

"We'll see." I smile.

"Hmm." He disappears into the thick foliage.

Jake doesn't end up calling me the next few days and by the end of the third finds me calling him. It's Billy who picks up the phone, telling me that Jake is sick with pneumonia.

Another week passes with me calling at the end of everyday to check up, only to hang up with the same results as the day before. I almost drove down there a few times, only stopping when Billy forbade it.

Doctor said no visitors.

So I have to go a week and a half without my sun, and grips of the dark quickly take hold, restricting my breathing at times and I even have to pull over on the side of the road one time, to keep from crashing and hold my sides together to press the stabbing shards of my heart at bay.

I miss my sun, my best friend.

So on Friday after school, I drive straight down to the reservation and pull up to the house. Doctors be damned, I'm going to visit my best friend when he's sick.

He's probably board out of his mind; he could never sit still for long.

It's raining when I get out of my truck and I trudge my way up to the door, knocking loudly when I get there. The certain shifts and I see Billy's face as he looks out at me before he disappears once more.

He doesn't open the door, so after a long five minutes, I stomp back to my truck in the freezing cold and sit to wait.

I would wait all night if I had to; I wasn't leaving until I saw my Jay.

I pull out my Calculus homework to work on as I wait, somehow knowing that it would be a while. And I was right.

Hours had past by the time movement from the woods catch my attention.

And Jacob emerges, bare chested and stomping towards me. I scramble to get out of the truck and trip my way towards him at a faster pace than normal.

The rain had only gotten heavier during my wait so every step has me sliding and I have to shout over the loud roar.

"What the heck are you doing out here, I thought you have pneumonia?!" He stops five feet away and I also come to an abrupt stop when I notice his unfriendly stance. "Jake?"

He stands ridged as a board, hands trembling terribly, though not in fear. He's angry- no, furious. At me.

"Get out of here Bella, you shouldn't have come." I flinch. He hardly ever calls me Bella anymore; to him I'm always his Isa, and he's my Jay. What happened to him?

"Jay, what's wrong, what's going on? You shouldn't be out here dressed like that, it's freezing."

"Bella." He says sternly. "Go home." The forest ripples with life and four more figures emerge, two of them very familiar yet so different than I last saw them. Embry and Quil flank Sam with another monstrous boy, one that I know to be named Paul.

I whip my head back to Jacob, finally noticing a major difference that makes this Jacob, not my Jay.

His beautiful hair has been cut short, looking like it had been hacked off with a knife. His beautiful hair that he used to take so much pride in. His beautiful hair that I used to play with on lazy days where we would just sit in front of the tv and eat pizza.

All of what made Jacob my Jay, was gone. His kindness, his warm smile, his hair, even his clumsiness was all gone.

I turn to Sam, ignoring the strange rumbles that come from Paul and march forward to jab him in the chest. "What did you do to him?! What did you do to Quil and Embry?!"

"This is not Sam's fault Bella, now you need to leave." Jake says, pulling me back from the eerily calm older boy.

"I am not leaving you alone with _him_." I spit. "You're my friend and so are they," I jab my fingers at my other best friends, " -and there's no way in _hell_ that I'm leaving you guys with that _self-centered prick of a man_ -"

"Bella!" He shouts so loud that it startles me into silence. Both his arms are shaking in repressed anger and he looks so scary at that moment that I can't help but take a step back.

He takes a deep calming breath and the quivering subsides slightly. He stares at me with a level gaze. "I don't think it's best if we are friends anymore."

My legs give out beneath me before the words even process in my brain.

 **"We're leaving."**

 **"When?" I ask.**

 **"Right now." He replies, face void of emotion.**

 **"Okay." I sigh. "I figured it would be soon, but I was hoping to have a little bit more time..." I hesitate at the strange expression on his face. "Unless by we you mean..."**

 **"Me and my family."**

 **I feel my heart plummet into my stomach, on the verge of shattering completely.**

No." I whisper. "You can't mean that; please tell me you don't mean that." I look desperately at his face, begging silently with my eyes for him to take it back and then magically change back into my Jay... But he remains silent.

 **"You don't... want me?" I ask. And he says the** **one word that breaks me completely.**

 **"No."**

"You promised." I croak, tears mixing with the steady buckets of rain that plaster my cloths to my body and my hair to my cheeks. "You promised you would never hurt me, but you lied! It's happening _again_ and your leaving me just like them!" I scream.

Despair over takes his face and he reaches forward as if to comfort me, but he quickly thinks better of it and draws back.

My throat is tight and thick with bile like I might throw up any minute. This wasn't supposed to happen, Jake wasn't supposed to leave me.

"Go home Bella." He says and a sob escapes my lips.

I struggle to my feet and start to run to the safety of my truck, tripping and sliding with every step and he calls out to me. "Stay safe Isa. Don't do anything stupid.

 **He hesitates as he's about to leave and I know right then that I'd do anything to make him stay.**

 **"Promise me something."**

 **"Anything." I say.**

 **"Don't do anything reckless." And then he's gone with only a slight breeze to let me know that he was ever there at all.**

"Like you care." I hiss over my shoulder at him.

I scramble into my truck, key still dangling from the ignition, and it roars to life. Right then, I didn't care that I was soaking the leather seats and mud was getting everywhere, I just had to get away.

I tear out of the reservation and make it just past the border before I have to pull over to the side of the road as I double over, sobs raking my body.

I always thought that Jacob was plugging up the hole that Edward had left, but it turns out that he was slowly chisling his own. The only good that they do is intensify the pain of the other.

Eventually, I stop crying, not because the pain had diminished any, but because I was physically not able to shed another tear.

By then, then the rain had faded to a drizzle and the sky was pitch black, no moon or stars to give any light.

Not being able to stand being cramped up in the small space any longer, I shove my way out the truck door and stumble into the street.

Nothing reckless huh?

I turn to the woods and march into them, in search of something that I hadn't seen in months, however unlikely it is that I could ever stumble upon it.

But I do, in the wee hours of the morning, the sun just beginning to give a soft grey glow. It's just how I remembered it.

Lush green grass and purple and pink flowers dotting the field in the shape of a perfect circle. The Meadow.

It turns out that I did still have tears left in me because I crumble again right there, a few more salty drops squeezing themselves from my swollen, puffy, eyes.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here." A soft tinkling laugh breaks through the silence and I slowly look up into the eyes of someone I never thought I'd see again.

Her beautiful face hasn't changed at all and I smile slightly. I struggle to my feet, body feeling terribly heavy.

"Victoria." I greet as if an old friend, no fear humming anywhere in my veins.

My heart is still as steady and full of heartbreak as ever.

"Where are the Cullen's hmm? I've been to their house, but no one has been there for months. I'm surprised they left their little pet behind; they seemed rather fond of you."

"They never cared for me, no more than you ever did. I was just something to pass eternity until they got board." I tell her, bitterness clearly in my voice. "It seems that it's like that for everyone with me."

"Oh, you poor thing." She cooes. "I suppose killing you wouldn't be very good revenge then."

"Nope." I say.

"But you would be quit tasty." She grins.

I shrug, my indifferent mask having found its place on my face with little to no thought. There was no way I could out run her or fight her off, so there is no sense in working myself up before my death. If I'm going to die, I'm going to die. Nothing can change that. But that also brings the question: Do I want to live?

"I've been told that my blood is mouthwatering, you'd be the first to get a real taste."

Her smile drops to a disbelieving frown. "Do you really not care if you live?"

"All I feel is pain." I answer with a resentful smile.

"Then I shall make you feel so much pain that you'll wish you had the other when I'm through with you. Think of it as a favor."

She's gone by the time I blink and suddenly a pale limb is back handing me across my face. I hear a terrible crunch two seconds before pain bursts through my nerve cells. I slam hard into the tree ten feet behind my previous standing spot, and a second snapping is heard.

I can immediately tell that my jaw had been shattered and I feel blood streaming down my back from where a branch had pierced my liver. The blinding pain makes my vision go black but I am torturously aware of everything around me. I can feel blood trickling from my face, it already swelling and I feel paralyzed in my legs.

Through spots in my vision I see red flaming hair reach down to grasp my leg, mimicking the injury that her mate had inflicted upon me last year.

I hear the crunch but the pain is nonexistent as I can feel nothing below my waist.

Her face appears in front of me, grabbing my agonized face in one cold hand, forcing me to look into her obsidian eyes.

"I'm surprised you're still awake. My, my, you really _are_ strong." She drags one fingernail down the good side of my face, letting me feel the sting as she draws blood.

She brings my wrist to her mouth, kissing the scar her mate had left in the form of a crescent moon. I feel her razor sharp teeth grazing along my wrist just soft enough to not break skin.

During all of this, I had not mad a single sound, but I could feel the life draining from me quickly. At this rate, I'd be dead in seconds.

A thudding and trampling of something big causes Victoria to pull back and suddenly there is a loud yowl-like screech and the vampire disappears by being tackled by something huge and black.

It sounds like metal grinding against each other and I'm vaguely aware of the stench of smoke.

Then there is arguing and shouts, panicked voices as multiple people surround me.

I hear the word 'bite' before I fully lose consciousness. Then there is a awful pain in my shoulder, even more so than my previously sustained injuries and everything is just gone.

* * *

 **A/N: I must admit, this is starting to sound like a story I read. My plot is nowhere near as fantastic or complicated though and I don't mean for it to seem the same.**

 **If you are wondering which story I'm talking about, read _XPaige TurnerX_ 's _Instinct_. Let me know if it seems similar please; I really don't mean it to be.**

 **Please review!**

 **~Silver~**


	4. Chapter 4

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 4

I snap awake to a loud pounding on my truck's smudged window and struggle to sit up. All my muscles are stiff from having been stuck in one place fore hours on end, and I wipe warily at the crust in my eyes and snot from my nose from having cried also in my sleep.

Remembering what happened yesterday makes my chest ache, so I push it away for when I'm alone again, shoving open the sticky door to reveal a very relieved Charlie.

"Oh thank God." Charlie sighs pulling me into a strong hug. "When you didn't come home last night, I thought something had happened to you. Did your truck break down?" He asks in concern.

"No."

"Then what was it."

"I was... incapable of driving at he moment, so I pulled over. I must have fallen asleep."

He takes his time studying my face now, taking in the obvious tear tracks and dark circles under my eyes. "Are..." He hesitates for some reason. "Are you okay Bells?"

"Yeah, no, I'm fine. Jacob, he just uh... told me that he didn't want to be my friend anymore is all." Despite my best efforts, my eyes water, and Charlie is pulling me in for another hug.

"Bells, I'm so sorry. Why would he do that?"

I just shrug and pull back to wipe the few tears that had fallen.

"Um," I sniff, "is it okay if I just go home now?"

"Of course. If you need anything, anything at all, you just call me. I'll be at work and I'll bring a pizza home for dinner."

"Thanks dad." I say and close my door when he steps back enough to be out of the way.

I pull back onto the road, and before I turn the bend, look into my rearview mirror to see Charlie glaring in the direction of the Black's house.

My cloths crinkle as I step out of the car, stiff from the rain drying I suppose, and climb the stairs rigidly.

I can't seem to get my cloths off fast enough but when I do, a bright color that wasn't there the day before makes me freeze. I turn the shirt over slowly and suck in a sudden sharp breath.

Dark red stains the back of my shirt, crusting in some places and turned stiff. I stumble over to a mirror hanging in my room and take in my half naked form.

Blood cakes my skin, cracking in some places as I move, but there are no marks of a wound. The only indication of anything being wrong is the dried blood, and an angry red scar that overtakes my entire shoulder in the form of a bite mark.

Fire red flashes across my vision and I suddenly remember the dream I thought I had. Was it not a dream? If not, then how did I end up back in my truck, let alone without injury in a single night?

I gently touch my face but it looks and feels normal, the blood from yesterday having been wiped away by someone or something.

I take a half step back before quickly stripping myself and shoving all my ruined clothes deep into a trashcan before laying down on my bed and letting sleep consume me.

...

Over the next few days, my depression stage gives way to the anger stage and I can't help but snap at everyone and everything.

I can tell that even Charlie is getting fed up with my grumpy behavior. I even snapped at poor Angela when she tried to talk to me.

"Hey Bells, how are you doing?" Charlie asks on Tuesday.

"Peachy." I retort.

I know that I'm being unreasonable, but I'm so frustrated and fed up about everything. People leaving me, the scar on my shoulder that is now just a pale pink like I've had it for years, and not to mention the new supernaturals at my school seem to have taken an interest in me.

Great. Fine. Wonderful. Just _peachy_.

"I'm just askin' a question." He raises his hands in surrender and I grumble words under my breath as I shove more food into my mouth.

I think that I'm having a growth spurt or something because for the past two days, it's like my stomach is a bottomless pit, and just yesterday I snapped at Charlie when he commented that he thought I was like an inch taller.

I force myself to stop eating after my fifth bowl of cereal and shove the empty dish into the sink before stomping out the door without saying bye to Charlie and rev the engine in my truck.

I peel out of the driveway and speed on to school while ignoring my usual self posted speed limit.

As soon as I step out of my truck and into the rain, one of the Pisică are by my side like every day this week.

"Hello!" She greets. I ignore her as I walk towards my first class. "Do you know what we had for homework in Mr. Mason's class?" She asks.

A rumbling sound seems to vibrate in my chest making shock shoot through my mind. Am I... growling?

She crosses her arms and huffs. "I bet you don't even know my name and I'm even in your class."

It's true, and she's not even talking about gym class. When I arrived at school on Monday, all my classes had at least one new person in them. So now I have at least one Pisică in the room with me at all times. It's kind of creepy actually, the way they are always watching me. It makes me think that they are waiting for something to happen.

"You don't, I knew it." She seems almost offended and I sigh.

"Alexis, meaning defender in Latin. You prefer to be called Alex. Your brother is Ian, meaning gift from god. Eva, meaning life or living and originating from Eve- as in Adam and Eve. There is Agathangelos, meaning good angel in Roman but he prefers to go by just Angel. Elliot means 'with strength and right' or 'bravely and truly' or 'boldly and rightly,' along with his sister Ivy. English meaning is faithfulness."

I see her swallow from the corner of my eye, eyes wide in astonishment and the green ring around her blue eyes stands out even more.

"You forgot Aurora, our mom."

"Aurora is the Roman goddess of dawn." I answer easily.

"You know that's kind of creepy right, knowing what all of our names mean?"

"So is showing up in all my classes and your family watching me like I'm a ticking time bomb, but that doesn't stop you. Doesn't matter though, I'm used to it. By the way, I've always had an obsession with the meaning of names and where they originated from."

I smile slightly at our almost banter before snapping out of it and anger quickly taking hold.

I shouldn't have started talking to her. I form attachments way too easily and that's how I keep getting hurt.

I scowl turning to her. "Just stay away from me okay? I don't know what your family's interest is in me, but it needs to stop. I can't keep living in this circle that happens around me. Just leave me alone."

With that, I turn on my heel and march into my class, leaving her in the dust with that shocked expression on her face. She follows me in a moment later and takes the seat right next to me.

"I'll become your friend eventually. I will break you."

 _That's what I'm afraid of_ , I think to myself.

This continues for a week, maybe two, and it's continually gaining on my nerves because it's working. I feel enjoyment in their presence- a kind of happiness when all six of them flood my table during lunch and force me to stay by pushing me back into my chair and shoving some of their food at me, my stomach becoming more and more bottomless.

I also notice their strangely large appetites but don't mention it. Jacob, Quil, and Embry all ate like that too.

No matter how hard I try, attachments are already forming and I continually curse myself for letting it happen.

 **"I-I want to come with you." I gasp, heart pounding and on the verge of stuttering.**

 **His face seems to go blank for a moment before a harsh laughs breaks past his lips, one that shouldn't belong on that angelic face of his.**

 **"Don't you get it Bella? I never loved you. My, _my_ , family never loved you. You were just something to entertain us for a while. But now we're board and we're moving on. You should to."**

 **"No." I choke. "You're wrong." Surprise flashes. "Alice wouldn't do this to me. She wouldn't just leave. Where is she?" I look wildly around me in desperation, calling into the green forest. "Alice? Alice!"**

 **Something dark, almost dangerous flashes in his eyes, making me take a jolted step back.**

 **"You were just as much of a toy to her as you were to me. She never loved you; I never loved you. If she did, wouldn't she have at least come to say goodbye? Wouldn't all of them? They left hours ago."**

I stand up abruptly in the cafeteria, drawing eyes from the family of supernaturals.

"Why wont you just leave me alone!" I hiss lowly, shoving the hands that reach out to push me back down, away and stalking out of the doors and into the rain.

I wont let it happen again, I wont. I refuse to be somebody's tool.

A tall dark figure flashes by the tree line and I quickly switch directions I was walking to storm over, shoving the monstrous boy once I was close enough.

"Go away!" I scream at my ex-bestfriend. "Get the _hell_ away and screw with someone else's emotions!"

"Isa, please, I just want to talk." Jacob begs and I swear I see my Jay in his eyes. But I don't care anymore, he broke his promise, but not only that, he shattered it.

"No." My chest rumbles with furry. "I'm done with you, I'm done with all of you, so go to hell Jacob and burn in the pits for all I care; I'm done being some piece of gum to chew up and spit back out when you're tired of me."

I shove him with all my strength and he sprawls out onto the ground, looking up at me in pure surprise. I continue to glare dangerously at him until I feel six people surround me, chests rumbling in anger at my old burnt out sun.

Jacob quickly springs to his feet, growling at the Pisică children with just as much hostility.

Angel, the most calm of the group, lays what's supposed to be a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay Bella?"

I snarl shoving him away and rounding on the group of supernaturals.

"I don't need your help. We're not friends and I have no intentions of changing that." I stomp back to my truck, shoving my way roughly through the six frozen and confused kids, fully intent on skipping the rest of the day.

I can't handle any of them right now and it feels like I might explode any minute if I try, so I clomp down hard of the gas peddle and peel out of there as fast as my ancient truck would let me.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, another update. After this up coming summer, I'll be going to college and not writing anymore (unless I decide to on breaks) so I just need to start posting as much as I can until then. Sigh. I need motivation.**

 **Please review?**

 **~Silver**


	5. Chapter 5

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 5

I feel like utter crap the next morning, and a groan parts my lips as I try to sit up before failing and flopping back onto the mattress.

Everything hurts. My muscles burn, my bones ache, my head is hammering and I swear that I can hear my heart pounding like a war drum with an army marching through my gut, ready for battle.

I roll to the edge of the bed and right onto the floor. I use the new position to push myself to my feet, arms shaking and legs threatening to buckle.

The entire world spins and I have to brace myself against the wall so I can get the floor back under my feet. The wall feels heavenly cool against my sweaty palm.

By the time I make it to the door, I'm panting in exertion and feeling faint.

"Charlie." I try to call but all that comes out is a croak. I attempt again, this time louder and my throat burns like fire. "Charlie!"

He comes up the stair, scowl in place before taking one look at my panting sweaty self and switching it to a worried face.

"What's wrong Bells, are you okay."

"Yeah, fine. Just, you know, really hot, can't breathe, bones on fire, and my head feels like it's been wired with nuclear explosives. Other than that I'm great," I say and mentally reprimand myself. He's worried and I'm still bitching at him. Great job Bells; antagonize the only person who hasn't left you yet. Then again he didn't fight for custody of me when my mom left.

I shake the thought from my head before I can get worked up about it because, frankly, a lot of little things have been setting me off lately.

I open my mouth to quickly apologize, but it freezes in my throat when I suddenly lose sight of him and am suddenly floor to nose with the carpet with a barely-there ache spreading across my face.

"Bella!" He gasps rushing to my side to shake my shoulder violently.

I answer with a low moan, and I'm suddenly lifted into the air by strong, warm arms, though they feel kind of cool against my skin.

"God Bells, you're burning up."

I'm quickly set down on the softness that is the couch and something cool and wet touched my forehead. It turns warm about five seconds later. A wet cloth. Charlie curses.

"I'm taking off work today." He says. "Do you need anything?"

"Water." I croak and he nods, quickly disappearing into the kitchen and coming back out a second later with a cup sloshing the cold liquid.

His hands hover uslessly over me. "What hurts?"

"Everything." I moan, but I already feel myself slipping into the comforts of unconsciousness and I willingly let it take hold of my mind.

...

After the second day of mostly sleeping and writhing in pain, Charlie called up Billy Black, also known as Jacob's father, to come watch me. Charlie couldn't miss anymore work.

Billy arrives with Harry shortly after my dad leaves for work and for a long time, they just stare at me.

Billy's eyes scan me up and down, probably taking in my new height over the past few weeks. He seems stunned.

I give a weak smirk and roll over onto my other side, barely containing a moan. "You should know that it's rude to stare. And if you have to be here, you might as well get me some water."

Billy continues to stare so Harry takes the initiative to walk into the kitchen and come out with a glass of water. Billy's eyes narrow on me as I guzzle it down and after a few minutes of me being uncomfortable, I lurch to my feet, ignoring the similar reaction in my stomach.

"I'm going to my room. Don't bother me and I wont bother you. If you can't to that, I could always throw up on your shoes." I comment as I sway my way up the stairs, the ceiling spinning and dipping around me.

Neither one of us talks to each other while he's here, and they disappear soon after Charlie gets home each night.

It's on the sixth night that I jerk awake burning from the inside out. I could swear that I see steam coming off of me in my cool room and my heart is pounding like a war drum again, only louder than before and it seems to be on the very surface of my skin, trying to break out.

I rush to my bedroom window and throw it open with a force than makes the pane shake, and I take in deep gasping breaths.

The sky is clearer than I have ever seen it, stars dotting the midnight blue sky and the moon is so bright that a bright beam bathes me in it's light.

Something inside me seem to twitch; a tail flicks in pleasure. I gasp at the feeling and stare up at the silvery full moon before glancing down to the forest.

It's so green and the grass looks so soft, that I have an urge to feel it on the bottom of my bare feet.

And the outside air feels so good that I push away from the windowsill and stumble quietly down the stairs and out the back door of the house.

It feels even more amazing than I thought it would and I stretch up to the moon and stars at the relief, a rumble that almost resembles a purr vibrating in my chest.

Something moving, perhaps a shifting of shadows draws my attention to the tree line. Something big with huge green eyes stares back at me. The orbs slowly blink before the creature takes a step back.

Somehow knowing that it wants me to follow, and strangely without a sliver of fear in me, I take a step forward.

The war drum still sounds in my ears, almost reminding me of the Jumanji game, except a hundred times louder. It blocks out all other forestry sounds until it is all I hear.

I scratch hard at my itchy arms as I take my first step past the tree line, looking around the dark shadows.

I continue forward and the itching in my body seems to grow so unbearable along with my burning muscles that I come to an abrupt stop and sit hard on my butt to scratch furiously at my leg as well as my neck.

The war drum is so resounding now that I'm afraid that if it doesn't stop soon, I'll go deaf.

And I think just that happens because not a second later, everything stops.

The itching, the burning, the pounding, and not a single noise disturbs my ears that the silence, in itself, is deafening. A moonbeam breaks through the branches and bathes me in its unearthly glow.

Then a scream so loud and so full of pain reaches my ears and it takes a full three seconds to process why that horrible noise is coming from me.

It feels like there is a live fire licking at my bones and it's like every single one is breaking and snapping, the sounds of it reaching my ears almost as terrible as the feeling itself.

And it's so horrible and so painful that I would have honestly rather died right there. It hurts a thousand times worse than those few seconds that I had a vampire's venom running in my veins.

Tears squeeze themselves from my tightly shut eyes and run down my face, mixing with the snot of my running nose.

I sense many large things beside me, some touching me with something damp and others licking away my pained tears.

I force my terrified eyes open and stare deep into the large emerald eyes of a beast.

No, not a beast, but a cat. A huge monstrous cat that could be a horse and a half tall, standing well above my head were I upright.

There are seven of them I could just make out, standing in a circle around me, all with slick and shining coats. But that's all I could gather in one glace as the pain has reached its peak and I throw my head back in a scream that turns into some kind of screech. It feels like my skin is splitting.

Then nothing.

I take in calm steady breaths as I try to figure out what happened. I strain my ears and can make out multiple huge things breathing. Eight large heartbeats drum a slow steady rhythm and my eyes open to a completely new world.

The forest is in sharper focus, but not even that, everything seems so much smaller.

I blink slowly at the seven not so large anymore cats around me, four of them distinctively taller than the others and one noticeably shorter than the rest.

I take a startled step back before blanching and staring down at my feet.

Or what were supposed to be my feet.

In their place are four large paws, and I stretch them testingly, sinking my claws deep into the cool damp earth.

Peculiarly, it doesn't terrify me.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys, I know I said I would update more and I'll try harder; I promise. Maybe not for this story, but any story. Thanks for reading and please review.**

 **~Silver**


	6. Chapter 6

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 6

I sit up in bed, the grey afternoon light behind my eyes reporting how late it actually is. And I feel great. What ever that sickness was, it was gone now.

My muscles feel pleasantly sore like after a good workout. The air comes fresh and soothing into my nose and my sinuses are so clear that I can smell Charlie's coffee being made down stairs. I can even hear the drip-drip-drip of the maker.

I yawn and stretch, still with my eyes closed, and stumble into the hall bathroom to get ready.

I finally slit them open as I step into the shower, my body feeling strangely dirty- like I had rolled around in the forest all night and had sweated up a storm for the past few days without showering. That last part was at least true.

As I lather the soap on my body, my fingers ghost over the large scar on my shoulder and then the crescent moon on my wrist, as always, a degree cooler than the rest of my body but somehow feeling extra cold this morning.

I step out of the shower, being careful of the water on the floor, towel drying my hair. My hair seems thicker and longer than normal, so it takes longer.

After the ends are dry enough to not drip annoyingly down my back, I wrap the damp fluffy cloth around my body.

I have to muffle a scream as I wipe the condensation off the mirror and look at the familiar yet different face staring back at me with shocked eyes.

Eyes that have a very noticeable green ring around the pupil.

"Holy shi-" I cut the curse off halfway through when I notice something else different, and I don't know whether to be awed or angry.

I had always been envious of people who have more prominent molars, and now I'm staring at myself who is now one of those people. I gingery bring my finger up to prod a tooth and hiss at its sharp edge.

Then my hands move to grip my hair in an almost hysterical way. I tug hard on the stands that are now darker, an actual black, and like I thought when I was drying my hair before, longer and fuller.

My eyes once again go to the green ring encircled in them.

I have a more wild air about me, a kind that just noticing, makes something in me twitch in pleasure.

I suddenly remember flashes of last night. The pain- giant cats- running.

I rush out of the bathroom and into my bedroom, locking the door behind me and lunging for the closet. I notice another change after failing to pull up a pair of jeans.

I had been growing a lot recently, enough to have to go to the store and buy a bunch of new cloths, but the amount I seemed to have grown overnight is impossible.

I was five eight just yesterday and now I stand at a skyscraping six five. A growl, an actual growl, rips through my throat as I toss my useless pants angrily into a corner of the room.

Digging deep into my closet for the pile of clothes I had gotten extra big on purpose, I find some cut off shorts that decently fit. The shirt on the other hand, I take from one of Charlie's drawers.

I jerk my backpack up from the foot of my bed, blanching when I apparently pull too hard, and I fall backwards with a grunt. Frustration causes anger to slowly rise in my chest at things not going right, and I stomp my way downstairs into the kitchen where Charlie is just now making lunch.

"Hey Bells, I got today off work and I thought I'd stay ho- whoa, have you always been that tall?" He inspects me closely and a blush heats my cheeks despite my best efforts.

I ignore his question and my snarling stomach and walk in the direction of the front door.

"I'm feeling a lot better today so I'm going to see if I can't make the last half of the school day." I mumble and exit the house as quickly as I can to avoid his protests.

I'm in such a rush that halfway to school, I realize that I forgot a coat, but it was pretty warm outside so I let it be. After all, I have some interrogating to do.

The parking lot is unsurprisingly full when I get there and I quickly pull into the nearest open space before marching towards the lunch room. Each step that carries me closer, seems to leak a little more anger into my chest so by the time I make it to that crowded table, a harsh glare is firmly set in place.

My hands slap down loudly onto the hard surface, making it groan as it tried to stay standing. Not one person flinches.

"What did you do to me?" I hiss.

"Perhaps we should take this outside?" Ian suggests. I glower at him before taking in all the unwanted eyes at our table. It probably would be best if the entire student body wasn't listening in on our conversation.

The bell signaling the end of lunch sounds and I know that none of us are going to finish the school day no matter what I told Charlie.

Turning on my heel, I walk straight back out the doors in the direction of the forest without looking back. I hear them tromping behind me, whispering harshly to each other.

"I told you we should have told her what was going to happen."

"She would have thought we were crazy."

"But at least she would have been warned. We did this to her and it is our responsibility to let her know what's happening."

"Shut up." Another voices hisses. "We'll tell her what she needs to know right now."

"You guys do know that she can hear you right?" Alexis deadpans and we just reach the tree line.

I whirl on them.

"Now, what did you do to me?" I once again hiss.

"Well it's going to be hard to believe if you don't remember last night-" Ivy starts.

"I'm a giant cat!" I seethe.

"So you do remember!" Why does she seem so happy about this?! A snarl rips from my throat but she only blinks.

Eva scowls at the raven haired girl. "Be careful Ivy." She scolds. "She's a new born and even though you could take her, she could still tear into you."

I cross my arms, anger giving into annoyance now. "Can someone please explain? Now?"

Angel speaks up, and I know that I will finally be getting some answers. From what I have gathered when they were hanging around me, he and Eva were the most calm and logical. Maybe it was because they actually were related?

"About a month ago, we were in the woods following a sent trail when we smelt the _leech_." He spits the word. "Then we smelt the blood and we followed it and found that bloodsucker standing over you. We killed it but you were already injured so badly you would have died before we could even lift you."

"So you bit me." I growled. "And turned me into one of you."

They all looked down guiltily.

"I couldn't just let you die." Ivy whispered staring at her feet. Well I guess I found the one to actually sink their teeth into my shoulder.

The shaking in my hands move up to my whole arms, making them look like them were spasming.

"Did you ever think that I was okay with dying, might have even wanted it? What in the world would make you think that I would be okay with becoming your new shiny toy, or anyone's for that matter?"

"What?" She gasps, looking up sharply into my eyes.

I can see Elliot take a step back nervously, but I keep my eyes locked on her. I can imagine a large cat inside me, sitting in a cage ready to get out, tail swishing angrily.

"I'm sick and tired of people playing me for a fool. Having me around for entertainment, and them spitting me out like used gum that lost its flavor. It's not going to happen again. I wont let myself get close to you only for you to decide later that your done with me. I'm done getting hurt because I'm not good enough to keep."

Okay, so maybe I have some abandonment issues, but can you blame me? Everyone that I loved has either left me, or not fought to keep me.

"What makes you think that we will get tired of you?" Alexis asks curiously.

"Everyone does. Everyone leaves me, and you will too. But this time, when you do, I wont let myself get hurt."

"Come on, Izzy." Elliot says and I flinch like every time any of them decide to call me that.

 **A tinkling laugh makes my heart warm and I look up at the pixy like girl dangling over the side of the bed. Even now after countless months of seeing her and hanging out with her, Alice's beauty still stuns me so much that I momentarily forget why she's laughing.**

 **"It's not funny Alice, I really don't know what to do, and I don't want to hurt him."**

 **"Come on Izzy," She says, something she only calls me when we are alone. My heart aches with the affection I feel towards her and I can't help but smile at her face grinning down at me. "You know that boys will never stop chasing you unless you are extremely blunt, sometimes not even then."**

 **I sigh contently as she reaches out and pushes my hair out of my face from my spot on the floor.**

"We're not like that. If you decide to join our pack, you're there for good."

"Join your pack?"

"Our pride, our family." Ian elaborates.

"And what is to keep me from thinking you'll kick me out later?"

"Because we can't," Alexis answers. "We are a very affectionate and loyal species. If you decide to join our pride, you, and us, are bonded by blood. You will develop a mind link for when we are in our cat form; we will be able to read each other's thoughts. It comes very handy when we need to speak to each other that way, and even when you are human, you can feel our emotions and us yours. We will be connected both mentally and emotionally." She finishes.

It sounds way too good to be true. "You wont... leave me?" My voice sounds far away as I think about having a family, one who is willing to be bound to that extreme. Physically, not just through promises that could easily be broken.

"Family doesn't abandon family." Again I flinch, once again thinking of how many times Alice, Esme, and Emmett all called me family. No, family doesn't abandon family. I was never theirs; that is clear now.

"Who did this to you- made you think like this?" I barely hear Ivy's quiet whisper but I ignore it. She must have seen my flinch that time.

"I want a family." I whisper. "I don't want anyone to leave me again."

Both Eva and Ivy reach out and take one of my hands, holding it comfortingly. They all have a kind of sadness in their eyes, and it makes me slightly uncomfortable.

"Then you have it." Alexis speaks firmly and I'm sure she would have taken my hand too if I had another.

A loud 'whoop!' brings my attention to Elliot who has a wide grin on his face that kind of reminds me of Emmett.

"I've got a new sister!" He cheers and goes around the back of me to throw his arms around my shoulders, being able to also embrace Ivy and Eva. "Group hug!" He crows, and Ian whoops as well, charging into us and making me stumble and almost fall, but I have warm bodies all around me holding me up.

A smile breaks my face, a real one for the first time in a month as first Angel joins and then Ian. I full out laugh as the discordant group shuffles forward to chase after an unwilling Alexis, Eva grumbling the entire way about being jerked around.

For the first time, I feel like I could heal if I had this group. But if they were lying and they left too... I wouldn't survive being abandoned again. After a heart breaks so many times, never being fully glued back together each time, it's bound to finally give out.

But for now, I could believe in them.

They seem so very genuine and I realize that I really, really, want it to be true.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys; so, yay, Bella's healing! Please let me know what you think. There are still a few more chapters until the Cullens come back and that should be interesting.**

 **She's not going to forgive them as easily as she did in the books. No, this Bella is angery**

 **~Silver~**


	7. Chapter 7

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 7

"Stop fidgeting." Alex growls irritably at me when I once again shift my position, crammed between her and Ivy (who has yet to release my hand).

"Sorry... What if she doesn't like me though?" I ask turning to Angel, who I found out really was her real son.

His smile is reassuring and calms my nerves slightly, much like Jasper was able to do when I got anxious for one reason or another.

"She already does." He says. "She was also there last night when you shifted for the first time, so she's already met you."

I grimace, remembering the pain of the night before.

Seeing this, he gives me a sympathetic look. "I heard that the first change is always the hardest and most painful." He says. "I never really experienced it because I was born cat and my body never had to adjust to suit it. I first changed when I turned sixteen."

"So what are we exactly?" I ask as we finally come to a stop and everyone starts piling out.

I freeze, staring up at the enormous house. It must have been as big, if not bigger, than the Cullens. Are all supernatural creatures loaded?

The house looks like something older out of a book. Maybe Victorian. To be honest, it looks more like a castle than a house to me, or a mansion to be more accurate.

"Werecat," a voice speaks, drawing my attention to the door to see a tall woman with long auburn hair step out.

"What?" I ask dumbly, mentally smacking myself afterwards. Her smile is amused so I assume I didn't make too bad of an impression already.

"Your question?" She tilts her head slightly and I hear Elliot snickering.

"Oh, yeah." I mumble, face going red in embarrassment.

"Why don't you all come inside and I can explain more."

"Come on Izzy!" Alexis says slapping her hands onto my shoulders and shoving me slightly to the door. She either ignores, or doesn't notice my flinch as they all file in as well, Mrs. Pisică closing the door behind her.

I'm immediately reminded of my hunger when my stomach snarls, a reaction to the food I smell wafting through the house. I clutch it and glare down like it had betrayed me in some way.

Mrs. Pisică smiles warmly at me and indicates for me to follow the kids to what I assume to be the kitchen.

There was a long table in the middle of the kitchen that could sit twelve, and on it is what appears to be a feast.

Half the table is filled with sandwiches- not just wimpy single slab of ham and some lettuce, but stuffed with a bunch of different kinds of meat and cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise.

On the other half is at least eight bags off chips of different kinds along with a tray of cheeses and crackers and baloney and a bunch of other meat slices that I have no name for.

The whole thing has my mouth wattering and I turn my wide eyes to the oldest looking werecat. All of this is just an after school snack?

She smiles kindly at me while nodding in the direction of the table where the other kids had already congregated and are stuffing their faces.

"Help yourself, there is plenty. We will talk when everyone is done eating."

After getting an encouraging smile from Ivy, I descend on the food as well, inhaling three stuffed subs before attacking some of the finger meats and crackers.

Everyone is sitting spread out at the table, reaching over each other and tossing things that the other wanted, and stealing someone else's bag of chips.

At one point a jug of milk was being passed around and everyone was drinking straight from the carton. When it got to me, I hesitated until Alexis started complaining that I was being too slow, so I tipped it up and drank from it too.

Everything is so normal and surreal- them chatting and fighting and throwing stuff with the mother figure sitting at the end of the table looking on with affectionate eyes as she slowly snacks on a family sized bag of chips.

After about a half hour things start calming down and we all help carry empty dishes to the sink.

I go a little more ridged as we all sat back down at the table, less spread out than before and they all fell silent as their alpha speaks.

"First of all, Izzy," I mentally sigh and figure it's too late to correct this family from this nickname, so I resign myself to it right then and there. "I would like to truly apologize for this happening to you. It was a panicked and rash decision to bite you and I do not regret that choice. I can only hope that you feel the same."

I glance around at all the downturned faces and I suddenly regret my hateful words earlier. I was worked up and being irrational. They saved me; they have nothing to feel guilty about.

"I think," I choose my words carefully. "that I could easily come to love the consequences." But only if you keep me, I add mentally.

The tense shoulders of my fellow warecats relax, encouraging mine to as well.

Mrs. Pisică smiled. "Good. Then I suppose there is only one thing to really discuss. Would you like to join our pride? I must warn that you will be bound by blood and by mind.

"Yes." I say immediately. "Yes, I would really, really like that."

Grins break out around the table and Angel is the first to stand, exiting the room without a word.

"He's going to set up."

"Set up?" I ask.

"For the bonding ritual."

"There aren't any sacrifices are there?" I ask apprehensively.

"No." She laughs. "But how do you feel about getting a tattoo?"

"Um?" I decide not to answer, figuring it was going to happen either way.

"Follow me then." She says and I just notice that we were now alone in the room. I quickly hurry after her out of the house and into the back yard that is the forest.

I suck in a deep breath, taking in the smell of moisture in the air and vegetation. Something alive is not too far away, giving off a musky smell. Even the air feels wild and I again feel a twitch inside me, almost like an itch.

My eyes, that I didn't realize had fallen shut, flutter open to see Elliot, Ivy, Ian, Angel, Eva, Alexis, and Mrs. Pisică all waiting in a circle with soft smiles playing on their lips.

My legs move on their own accord and I find myself sitting in the middle of them, the damp grass seeping through my jeans.

"Where do you want your tattoo?" Elliot asks kneeling down with a gun-like looking thing with a black liquid sloshing around in a glass vile attached to the back of it.

"Um." I say. "What does it look like?" I ask.

I blush when Alexis pulls up her shirt with a grin, showing a Celtic unity symbol framing her belly botton with an even smaller infinity sign along the bottom edge on one of the bold curving black lines.

Elliot lifts the back of his longish hair to show the same symbol on the back of his neck.

Ian pulls up his long sleeve to show his on the inside of his forearm.

Angel pulls down his collar to see it placed just under his left collarbone.

Ivy's is, unsurprisingly, on her hip and Eva reveals hers on the left side of her ribcage.

Mrs. Pisică's is in the center of her lower back.

I think hard on where I want it; I want it somewhere special.

"What does it mean Mrs. Pisică?" I ask softly.

"The Celtic unity means family. We added the infinity to mean forever. Family forever- that's what it means. And please, call me Aurora."

"Is this forever Aurora? Do I get to have this family forever?" I ask, silently begging for a confirmation which she immediately gives with a firm nod.

"Then I know where I want it." I say taking off my shirt. "Right here please." I say to Elliot, pointing to the spot right over my heart with a large blush reddening my cheeks.

Aurora smiles and nods, so Elliot turns the gun thingy on. I was nervous about Elliot doing my tattoo, because he kind of reminds me of an ten year old, and you don't give ten year old sharp things to leave permanent marks on your body. But his hand is steady and doesn't hesitate or stop, and his marks are precise.

It hurts getting a tattoo. A lot. It is after the first few winces that I noticed the strange tingling sensation on the skin that the gun just left.

After I notice it, I can't ignore it until, finally, I hiss saying, "God, what is that?"

Eva answers. "It's the accelerated healing." She smiles. "As soon as it breaks the skin, it's healing itself. Strange, isn't it?"

I agree with a frown, concentrating on the bizarre feeling instead of the pain.

I don't know how I feel about it, if I like it or not.

Finally, the tattoo is done and Elliot helps me to my feet.

I find myself still standing in the middle of the circle and my eyes widen slightly at the huge hunting knife that Aurora pulls out of her waist band.

"I thought you said there weren't going to be any sacrifices," I say, eyeing the metal wearily.

"And there will be none." She chuckles before becoming serious once more. "Are you sure you want this."

"You probably should have asked that before giving me the tattoo." I say, and at her look, nod honestly. "Yes."

Her movement is swift and smooth, barely giving me time to react before blood starts pooling in her open palm.

"Then I accept you as my sister." She whispers, pressing her hand over my chest.

A flash of heat, like fire, sears over it and I gasp, even as she passes the knife to her right, to Angel.

"I accept you as my sister." He mumbles slashing his hand and pressing it over my tattoo as well. Another flash of heat, burning, but not painful, and he passes it again to Alexis.

She grins at me as she drags the blade over her skin. "I accept you as my sister." She tells me, copying the actions of the first two with the same results.

Around the circle the knife is passed, each mumbling the same phrase and repeating the actions before them until it comes to Ivy, the last person.

I'm panting slightly as she shyly presses her palm over my heart. "I accept you as my sister."

And then she passes the big blood covered knife to me.

Then they all shift, lifting clothing or hair to reveal their tattoos and somehow, I know what I'm supposed to do.

I slash my palm and press it into Aurora's lower back whispering, "I accept you as my sister and alpha." I say, and turn to Angel, pressing it to his chest. "I accept you as my brother." Then I turn to Alexis, and Ian, and Ivy, And Elliot, and Eva, and finally, Ivy, all the while reveling in the heat pulsing in my tattoo each time I touch my bloody palm to someone else's mark.

"Welcome to the family, Izzy." Aurora says as she takes the knife from me and starts to clean it with a cloth that was hanging out of her back pocket.

And for the second time that day, I am pulled into a giant group hug.

I return everyone's smiles before looking down at my hand, watching in amazement as it tingles and slowly closes up.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, so, I know that she accepted them a little too easily, but the reason why she did is because the bond she will have with the pack will be a physical thing. She doesn't just have to take their word of how they feel about her, she can _feel_ how they would feel about her.**

 **More will be explained in latter chapters along with more about the characteristics of a werecat.**

 **Please leave a review!**

 **~Silver~**


	8. Chapter 8

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 8

"So how are you not freaking out right now? " Elliot asks. "Most people would take at least an entire day to believe us- and then they would go into denial. You just accepted it so easily."

Ian leans closer from across the table. "You have taken this abnormally well."

"I can do weird." I say, absently touching the crescent on my wrist. "This isn't the oddest thing to happen to me."

Eva, curious now, leans closer as well. "Like what?"

"Well... Last spring I was chased all the way to Arizona by a vampire." I offer, and their mouths open in shock.

"You were hunted by a leech and survived?" Alexis sounds impressed. "How'd you manage that?"

"My ex boyfriend's family." A wave of anger washes over me and Ivy takes my hand from the seat next to mine. "They had me in protective custody with two of them while the others hunted him."

"They weren't human?" Aurora asks curiously, coming out from behind a counter where she is already cooking dinner.

"They were leeches, as you call them."

Angel whistles. "Damn, you dated a blood sucker?"

"Angel." Aurora scolds, making me smile slightly at them.

"They called themselves vegetarians. They only drink animal blood."

"Still seems badass to me," Alexis mumbles, grinning at me.

"Anyway, they lost track of James- the one hunting me, and he found me in Arizona. Tricked me in to coming to him. He said he had my mom. He tossed me around some until _Edward,_ " I spit the name, surprisingly feeling no longing or sadness, but anger. "Came and killed him."

"James bit me though." I say holding out my wrist for them to see the pearly scar.

Half of them hissed and leaned away. "How are you not one of them then?" Eva asks. She was one of the ones that didn't cringe.

"Edward sucked out the poison. I wouldn't have been any fun for him if I were like them. I wouldn't have been any fun for any of them."

Ivy's hand tightens around mine; she seems to like bodily contact the most out of all of them. "What happened to them?"

"They left," I deadpan, my body seeming oddly numb. "Edward took me into the woods and told me the truth. That he never loved me, that none of them did. That I was just something to entertain him and he had grown board. He said that I meant nothing to him and I was just a stupid human who would move on in a week."

Growls rumble around the table, snarls ripping through Ivy, Alexis, and Elliot's mouths, and it's oddly comforting. It's strange, but I can feel their anger as clearly as my emptiness.

"Those ticks are the reason you were being like that all this time?" Ivy growls, and it's kind of cute with her being the shortest of us.

"No, they were just the beginning. I became best friends with a boy on the reservation along with two others. The two left first, but I thought they would come back after a week or so. They have been best friends with Jake sense they were little but then Jacob changed. He told me he didn't want to be my friend anymore. 'I don't think it's best if we were friends anymore.' He said. 'Go home Bella.' That was the night that I ran into Victoria, and the night that you bit me."

"Victoria," Ian says. "The red head leech? You knew her?"

"She was James's mate. She blamed me for his death."

"Well you don't have to worry about her now." Alexis says proudly, puffing out her chest. "We took care of her."

"Thank you." I say and we sit in silence for a while. Aurora goes back to cooking and I shift slightly. "So what now?" I ask.

"Now we train you." Ian says.

I tilt my head. "Train me ho- ack!" I glare up from the ground at a smiling Elliot, foot still suspended in the air from when he kicked the chair out from underneath me.

"Reflexes Kitten." Alexis responds. "We all had to learn them."

"Could you teach me a little more nicely?" I mumble sitting back down slowly into my chair to make sure it doesn't move again.

"No can do, we all had to go through it." Ivy says cheerfully. "Well except for Angel and Eva of course. They are wereborn, everything comes naturally to them."

They both give me a lopsided smile.

"Anything else?" I sigh.

"Watch your anger." Angel says seriously. "It's what triggers the change. You'll notice that when you get angry, you'll start to shake; it's your cat preparing itself to come out. You have to keep it in its cage until you want to _let_ it out."

"The full moon is the only time we have to change, but if we don't do it frequently, we start to get irritable. The moonlight is what brings out the change, so the stronger the light, the stronger the pull." Eva continues.

Ian speaks next and I almost think that they rehearsed this. "Just like one day a month you have to change, there is one day a month you can't. During the day and night of a new moon, we are weakened and completely vulnerable. We are completely human on that day and if we get hurt, our regenerative healing wont help us."

"Got it." I say.

"So there is only one thing left then." Aurora says speaking up from making dinner, drawing all our attention to her. "Are you staying for dinner, or do you need to be home?"

"Oh no, Charlie!" I say leaping to my feet and rushing to the door. "I completely forgot about him! He's going to kill me if he finds out that I got a tattoo."

"Bye Kitten!" Alexis calls, and I sense that that is going to become a permanent nickname if I don't crush the idea soon. Later, I decide as I realize just how late it is. I told him I was going to school but I stayed there for not five minutes. School is long over by now

"Bye Izzy!" The rest call, Ian following me out the door and climbing into the driver's seat.

He speaks as we start down the long driveway. "We will come pick you up for school in the morning sense you don't have your truck, and then I think the girls were wanting to take you shopping to get you the new clothes that you need." He glances down at my bare feet and smiles amusedly. "And maybe some shoes."

"How am I supposed to go to school tomorrow without shoes?" I ask raising an eyebrow.

"I don't think they will notice, they'll be paying too much attention to how you are actually talking to us and willingly hanging out, not to mention your monstrous growth spurt."

"Who said anything about hanging out with you guys- you could ruin my rep." I tease playfully. Ian is actually really nice, though he likes to tackle and roll around just as much of the rest of them. He's the most reserved around humans- besides when I was one, but then again, I wasn't going to be for long.

He looks more like a playful military guy that lightens everyone's spirits during a war.

"And what rep do you have that we would completely ruin for you."

"The depressed turned angry loner. If I'm hanging around you guys there is no way I could keep up the depressed look and I wouldn't exactly be alone. Then what reputation could I have? I would be reputationless."

"Ah, then I guess we would have to leave you be, cause we wouldn't want that." I punch his arm roughly as he smiles slyly at the road.

"What was that, a love tap? Now I know we really need to work on your muscle strength."

"I'm strong." I argue. "I could totally take you."

"You're just a kitten, Kitten, don't try to take on the big lion just yet." He teases and I give him a playful snarl. Something in me though, probably the cat, twitches eagerly. Apparently this kitty is competitive.

I can live with that. My eyes narrow at the challenge. "Just watch, give me a week to get used to this and I'll take you down easily."

The competitiveness shows in him as well as he shifts and a smile lights his face. "We'll have plenty of time to test this theory." The van jerks to a stop. "For now, get out."

"Awe, come on, I didn't mean it." I whine. "Don't make me walk home."

He turns to me, and smiles. "No, get out because we're here."

I glance out of the window to see the familiar driveway. "Oh." I blink and then I blush. "That was fast."

He laughs and reaches across to push the door open for me .

I climb out and turn around to thank him when something red comes flying at my head. "Think fast!" He calls, but it already smacks me in between the eyes.

I blink before picking up the soft round object that fell onto the driveway.

"Really?" I ask in a deadpan. "A ball of yarn?"

"All kittens need a toy." He grins, throwing me a wink. "Welcome to the family!" He calls and shuts the door in my face as I just look on in confusion and bewilderment.

Finally, I laugh as he disappears around the corner, shaking my head at his teasing.

I turn to find Charlie standing just inside the door with a stern/worried expression. Despite knowing that I'm in trouble, I twirl up the driveway with a big goofy grin.

"I think things are looking up, dad." I say, brushing past him and into the house with little glance.

His eyes soften at seeing me so happy after so long being angry or depressed.

"Who was he?" He asks closing the door and following me into the kitchen where I start pulling things out of the fridge to cook.

"Ian." I answer. "He was driving me home from Aurora's house."

"Aurora? You mean, Mrs. Pisică's" He scratches his mustache.

"Yup." I grin as I turn on the stove.

"You, uh," He shifts uncomfortably. "Dating one of them boys?"

"No dad." I sigh. "They're all just friends."

"I just want you to be careful Bells. I hate seeing you hurt." He takes a seat tiredly and for the first time, I realize just how much I actually worried him.

My eyes soften as I turn around to face him fully. "I don't think these people are going to hurt me any time soon. They're genuine."

"Alright." He relents and shuffles off to watch some sports game or another. His talking quota seems to be spent for the day and we eat in silence when dinner is ready, save for the eyebrow raise I get when I go for thirds.

Taking the hint that maybe I'm eating too much, I set the spoon back down and set my empty plate in the sink, collecting Charlie's along the way, to wash it.

"Goodnight Charlie!" I call as I jog up the stairs, a strange excitement growing in me, some that I can somehow tell, was not only my own.

My breath picks up as I rush to the window, looking out into the quickly darkening sky.

I can feel the moon even though it's hidden behind a blanket of stars.

I glance at my closed door before going over to it and cracking it open to call down the stairs.

"Hey dad, I'm going to go to bed early, I'm still a little tired from whatever bug I had, okay?"

"Yeah, sure Bells." He answers distractedly as some cheering erupts from the television.

I roll my eyes as I lock the door. They quickly flick back toward the window once again, and something in me purrs. How can I ignore this?

My body seems to have a mind of its own as I shove the pane open and in a move that would most certainly have killed me yesterday, leap into the tree just outside my window before shimmying down the branches.

I land on the soft damp grass with barely a sound and I briefly wonder if all cats really do always land on their feet, and if they did, would I count?

* * *

 **A/N: So, a little bit more on werecats; what do you think? Please review!**

 **~Silver~**


	9. Chapter 9

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 9

As I draw closer to the forest line, I could start to make out a tall female figure.

"What took you so long?" Alexis grins and I only have to wait briefly for the punch line that I know is coming. "Kitten got stuck in a tree? Did the fireman have to come get you down?"

I roll my eyes, brushing right past her as I start scratching my arms that have become increasingly itchy. Tilting my head back, my eyes search the sky for the moon that I know is there.

"I thought that you didn't have to change every night except for the full moon."

She turns, following me deeper into the woods.

"And how come you're not itching?" I snap, irritated, turning to her. I notice something significant about her and pause curiously. The green ring that surrounds all our pupils, take up all the color in them. They are now a glowing earthly jade and the pupils are slit into thin lines.

"Technically, you don't have to change, but your body will automatically want to. Especially the month following the first transformation. It gets easier to ignore after that."

"What about your eyes?" I marvel.

Her white smile is easy to see even in the dark. "Yours are like that, too. They turn that way when the cat is the closest to the surface."

"Alright, lets do this already." I ground out, moving my itching to my back where I can barely scratch. "It's driving me crazy and this kitty want's to play."

She laughs at me as I bend down to scratch my leg, and looking back at her, I fall stunned to my butt.

"What are you doing?!" I screech embarrassedly as she tugs off her pants, shirt, and bra already in a heap beside her. I quickly turn away as my face flushes a deep red.

Again, she laughs at me. "Well I don't want to shred my clothes so unless that's your plan, I suggest you do the same."

She kicks off her underwear and starts strutting towards me unashamedly and I struggle to keep my wide eyes on her face.

"Come on." She says tugging at my shirt. "There is no such thing as modesty in being a werecat; you'll get used to it soon enough."

Sputtering and blushing painfully, I quickly strip my clothes and set them into a neater pile than Alexis's are. She laughs at me as I attempt to keep myself covered somewhat, and follow her lead as she plops down into the grass.

"So what am I supposed to do?" I ask, avoiding her eyes.

Becoming more serious, she stills except for the slight trembling in her hands.

"Close your eyes." She directs, causing me to immediately listen. "Focus on the sounds and smells around you; find that wild instinct."

Doing as she says, I stretch my senses. Taking a deep breath through my mouth, I taste the damp forest on my tongue. I can smell something warm and musty, something alive, and I stretch my hearing into that direction as a twig snaps. A steady heart pulses and begins to race as the deer senses danger.

I breathe in again, taking in the scent of something wilder, more feral. Racing paws take off after the spooked deer and more join in on the hunt.

A grin breaks my lips. Wolves.

"Search deep in yourself and find that cage that has locked up your cat, and reach into it. Bring it to the surface," she speaks softly. "Focus on the itch, the pull of the moon, and let it explode."

The itching becomes intense but I ignore it, focusing on where I had always felt my cat whenever it's tail twitched or purred in my ear. My gut clenches as I hook onto that slight flicker, and my eyes flash open with a gasp. My body convulses and Alexis's voice seems distant as she rises to her feet encouraging me.

"Good, don't stop." She demands. "Don't let go, focus on the animal, your anger."

My heart clenches and there is a war drum pounding in my head again. My gut twists and it feels like I'm exploding out of my skin.

Just like before, everything is calm when it's over. I find myself getting to my feet, standing tall and shaking out my dark pelt.

I can feel something shift in the air, and I almost jump as a voice speaks into my head.

 _"That was pretty good for the first intentional shift. Relatively painless."_

 _"Whoa."_ I think back. _"You weren't kidding about the mind link thing."_

 _"No."_ She says sounding amused, if you could sound amused in your thoughts. _"We weren't 'kidding about the mind link thing'."_

I turn to look at her curiously. The only time I had seen her in cat form was during my first change, and even then I didn't get a good look; it was hard to see through the tears of pain.

She winces at where my thoughts had drifted.

 _"Sorry."_ I think at her.

She looks like a giant lynx, only with a little longer fur and a long tail that brushes the leaves. Her fur is a dark brown like her hair had been, only with a small circular white patch taking up her chest. Like when we were human, she is still slightly taller than me.

"What do I look like?" I ask eagerly in my head, jumping up and down slightly and making the ground shake.

"Like a kitten wanting to play." She teases, her tail flicking playfully.

"Seriously, how do I look?" I ask, trying to careen my neck around to look at myself. A mental image pops up into my mind, but it's odd because I can still see what's going on around me even as I study the giant cat in the picture.

It's fur and shape look exactly like Alexis, but the color is completely black instead of brown- the color of midnight.

"That's me?" I gasp. "Cool!"

She chuckles and turns slightly in the direction to head deeper into the foliage. "Ready to play, Kitten?"

Despite the slightly offending nickname, I bound after her excitedly, only to trip over my own paws.

Her cat rumbles in a laugh as it also echoes in my mind. I feel the heat of a blush but I know that it won't show through my dark coat, and I shove her shoulder roughly.

Her chortling dies as her eyes narrow dangerously. Then she lunges, tackling me right into a tree where it snaps in half with my weight.

I let out a sound of joy as I wrestle with her, struggling to keep my claws sheathed so as not to accidentally scratch her, but she has no qualms about slamming me into the dirt too hard, and I find myself enjoying doing the same.

I've never played rough before, but it is really fun. I head butt her in the chest, sending her back a few feet, before turning tail and running deeper into the trees as fast as I can.

My feet catch on so many branches and roots, but I'm so big that it has little to no effect on me, and I find myself marveling at the speed I'm able to reach.

I have to be going faster than Edward!

My mind is racing so fast that I don't even notice when someone else enters my head until I hear a loud startling, _"Heads up!"_ being shouted at me, and I have time to turn wide eyes to a black and white blur before something big pounces onto my back.

The force throws me sideways and careening into two trees, and I'm left gasping on my side with a nose full of moss and a pelt full of twigs.

 _"Ow."_ I groan heaving myself to my feet and swiping a paw at who I know to be Elliot as he picks himself up as well, shaking out all the debris from his black fur. Only his paws and tuffs on his stomach are white.

His wide sparkling green eyes shine at me, and his mouth twists into a threatening show of teeth that I know is supposed to be a grin.

 _"Ass."_ I grumble, and his chest rumbles in a laugh.

 _"Reflexes, kitten."_ He teases, and I groan again in just as much in pain as I had taken from the jet speed tackle.

 _"Not you too."_ I guess it's too late to discourage that nickname, I think wistfully.

" _You got that right."_ Ivy says, thinks, coming into the newly made clearing with Alexis chuckling at her heals.

Ivy looks similar to her brother except more slender, build for speed rather than strength, and of course smaller too. Her socks go up a little higher as well, I notice.

"Is everyone else coming out?" I ask curiously, and get three head shakes.

"Aurora didn't want everyone out here at once, it brings a little too much attention to ourselves from the wolves."

"The wolves?" I ask. Alexis shakes her head.

"I'll explain tomorrow." She says crouching low to the floor. "For now, lets play." She grins wolfishly (excuse my insult to us cats) at me, tail flicking playfully, and lunges.

I rear up to meet her and a crack like thunder echoes through the tree, and I grin as I'm easily overwhelmed by the superior fighter.

But I don't seem to care, and the new competitiveness inside me has me leaping to my feet again to tackle the next body closest to me.

* * *

 **A/N: So the kitties come out to play. The Cullens are coming soon, but not next chapter. I think. I'll have to check.**

 **Thanks so much for reading and please review!**

 **~Silver~**


	10. Chapter 10

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 10

"Why do I have to wear this again?" I growl irritably, tugging on the sweater that Angel had forced into my hands as soon as I stepped into the van that morning.

I tug on the material roughly, briefly thinking about 'accidentally' tearing it.

"Don't you dare," Ivy growls, a glare set in place as she interprets my feelings. "You have to wear it because we are trying to blend in and not act like our bodies run twelve degrees higher that a human. Any doctor would have a heart attack if he took our temperature- we should be dead with this kind of heat."

"But I'm not cold." The whine in my voice is obvious even to me.

"Boo hoo." Alexis says mockingly and her foot appears in my walking path.

I don't have time to avoid it, and the end result is me falling flat on my face in the school parking lot with everyone watching.

Angela, who was only two cars down, appears in front of me to help me up, shooting nervous glances at the towering people behind me.

Nice, shy little Angela decides to defend me, her anxieties of doing so clearly shining in her eyes. "That wasn't very nice." She says helping me to my feet.

Six amused pair of eyes look down on her, along with my sympathetic ones.

"No, I suppose not," Alexis says, and moves to sling an arm around my shoulders. "But Kitten here needs to learn to avoid moves like that. We're training her."

Poor Angela's hands are shaking in nervousness, eyes darting around the parking lot uncomfortably. But she's a good friend and doesn't stand down.

"But you enjoy watching her fall."

"Oh, I know for a fact that they do," I say, crossing my arms with a scowl. "But they'll get what's coming to them eventually."

Alexis slings her arm around my shoulder, only somewhat facing the human.

"You know you're in love with me." She gloats.

"Hm, is that right?" I raise an eyebrow and she nods before doing something I really wasn't expecting.

She leans down and plants a sloppy kiss right on my lips.

"What the hell Alex!" I hiss shoving her away and wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. She laughs at me, and I shove her again.

"It's not funny," I scowl, trying not to laugh as well, but the other's chuckles is making it hard. My lips twitch just slightly.

She once again slings her arm around my shoulders, leaning heavily on me as she tries to catch her breath again.

Angela looks so lost, and I turn to her apologetically, my lips twitching some more as Alexis is finally able to draw in a gasping breath.

"It's okay, Ange," I tell her. "I'm in very capable hands." Alexis bursts into laughter again, and it takes me a moment to realize my wording. I elbow her in amusement. "You know I didn't mean it that way."

"Oh, but you're very right." Ivy says striding forward and throwing her arm around my other shoulder. "Our hands are very capable

"If… you're sure." Angela says, turning away, hesitantly. "Just please be careful."

After she gets far enough away, I whirl on my two new friends, who immediately burst into sputtering laughter again. They each receive a fairly hard blow to the stomach, and then they're gasping for another reason.

"Why'd you kiss me?" I hiss at the taller girl.

"It was funny," She shrugs, smile wide and never wavering.

"You do know that now everyone will think we're dating, right?" I ask. Again, she shrugs.

I open my mouth to speak to the others on this matter, when I see no one is behind us. My eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"Where'd everyone go?"

"Oh, they left a while ago." Ivy speaks up, pointing to the school doors. "After you told Angela we had very... capable hands." Her eyes sparkle in humor.

"Well then I suppose you could use those very capable hands and carry me to class," I say, raising my arms like a child would asking for 'up'.

She just shoves me and starts walking to class.

"You know you love me!" I shout after her, drawing attention from the few people still lingering in the parking lot.

Alexis turns her back to me, arms out to her side. "Up you go." She says, and I happily leap onto her back, allowing her to piggy back me to our first class. I can't seem to care about all the stares we get.

...

"So, according to rumor, I am the Pisică children's new sex slave," I say cheerfully as everyone finally arrives at our lunch table. "But I am also officially out of the closet with Alex in some cases."

Elliot grins. "Can I watch whenever you two start going at it?"

Putting my head in my hands, I groan. "Please, someone knock his chair over because, unfortunately, I'm not close enough to."

Instead of hearing his cry of surprise as his chair disappears, like I wanted, I feel my own chair jerk and open air beneath my butt. The ground collides with it a moment later, and I roll onto my stomach with a groan.

"I hate you, Ian." I tell the boy that had kicked my chair out from underneath me, because I doubt it was Eva.

"You know you love me," He says as I slowly pick myself up from the ground. I make my annoyance clear and try to direct it at him, hopping that he feels it. He only continues to grin, if anything, smile stretching wider.

...

My giant paws thug against the forest ground, shaking the foliage as I race past. Like a second eye, I can see more trees and a clearing. Another cat is there, tail swishing impatiently, and I push my legs faster as that cat decides to voice his thoughts.

" _What's taking you so long, Izzy?"_ Ian questions in my mind. _"It's getting boring waiting for you, and the only entertainment I have is even more boring than this tree I'm staring at."_

 _"Hey!"_ Eva complains. _"I'm not that boring."_

 _"You won't even play with me, oh good, Izzy's here."_ He says, seeing as I near the clearing they are waiting in.

 _"Play?"_ I tease. _"What are you, a kid?"_ I barrel headfirst right into his side, sending us both toppling.

His breath leaves him in a whoosh, and he bends around to rip at my fur with his teeth. Sandy colored hair chokes me as I bite down lightly into his shoulder as not to break skin. He finally gets his mouth on the scruff of my neck to throw me off.

I twist in the air and land on my feet in a crouch, ready for his attack.

At least, I was until a breeze blows through the open field, carrying with it a strange scent. I straighten up instinctually and turn my nose to the direction the winds came from.

Because of my diverted attention, Ian rams right into me, but I only slide back a few feet. _"What's that smell?"_ I ask opening my mouth and inhaling to taste the scent on my tongue.

A little like wolf and human mixed together, and a strange musk that I can't place; it also smells like the wild, and just that spice has my hair standing on end.

Eva turns in that direction, too, sucking in a deep breath though she wouldn't have needed it. The scent is strong now- impossible not to notice. A shiver runs down Eva's darker (like wet sand) pelt.

A growl escapes Ian, making me grow even more curious.

" _I'm going to go find out,"_ I say racing into the trees and toward the hair-rising smell.

" _No!"_ Ian calls, both of them taking off after me.

" _Come on."_ I tease. " _Don't tell me you're scared."_

" _That's not it, Izzy,"_ Eva says with an edge to her voice. _"These creatures are dangerous, and it's best if we don't try to start a fight."_

My strides falter, doubt sprouting in my mind. If the werecats are worried, it has to be something bad.

Just as I'm about to stop completely and turn around, something large- some kind of animal, appears in front of me, and I slam my hindquarters into the ground in a desperate attempt to stop.

But going at that speed to a dead stop is impossible, so I go careening into the large dog-like creature. It's larger than even me, or possibly any of the werecats, and fear makes my heart race.

It snaps its jaws at me as I try to spring backwards, spit flying from its razor sharp teeth.

I cry out, though it comes as a yowling screech from my mouth. He twists around in an attempt to grab me, and his teeth sink into my back leg before I can make a move to dodge.

His hold only slackens when I twist around on the leaf and dirt covered ground and lash out desperately with my unsheathed claws, drawing four long lines of blood from his cheek.

I rip my leg away, but his hold was tight, and I could both feel and hear the skin tear down my hind leg. I don't have much time to whirl back around before he lunges again at me with a snarl, this time aiming right for my throat.

Remembering this happening so many times in play fighting, I panic when he pins me down, snapping at the fur shielding my jugular. I fearfully kick out with my back claws at the soft of his underbelly.

His weight leaves me, blood matting in the fur around my neck from where he had just clamped his teeth down, and I feel more of the warm, sticky, liquid pouring down my leg.

I roll over onto my side in an attempt to see why he is suddenly gone when he was clearly winning, and relief floods me.

Two sandy colored pelts, one dark and one light, are hissing, slashing, and tumbling with the monstrous wolf. Seeing that he's clearly outnumbered, he turns tail and runs.

I feel a tingling and an itch, and I'm suddenly much smaller and my curses are said out loud. I gasp and clutch at my neck, as more blood bubbles over and there are two more voices cursing into the nightly woods.

"Shit, shit, shit." Eva says falling to her knees beside me, looking over my wounds. "We have to get you back to Aurora quickly." She reaches over to lift me, but a strangled cry escapes at the slight shifting and her hands jerk backwards as if stung.

Ian kneels down as well, as naked as Eva and I, and he rests a hand on the panicky girl flailing over me.

"You change and head to the house to tell the others, you're faster. I'll carry her."

He lifts me effortlessly into the air, ignoring my scream of pain as my leg is jarred. The wolf barely got my throat, but my leg is bleeding profusely.

If I weren't in so much pain, I would be extremely embarrassed for him to be carrying me when we are both naked, but I can't seem to care at the moment. Alexis did say that there was no such thing as modesty in being a warecat; maybe this is what she meant. Probably not.

He runs through the forest faster than any human could possibly dream of, and it only takes about five minutes to reach the mansion-like house. When we get there, the door is already open with Aurora ushering us in, and Eva still stands stark naked wringing her hands.

We make it into the house, and I'm set on the kitchen table like it is an examining slab. Aurora rushes around with warm water and a bunch of towels, quickly deeming my leg injury the worst and working on cleaning it and stopping the bleeding.

But I do not take it in silence- no, I hiss every time something touches me, using curse words that I didn't even know I knew, and throwing anything that comes within my grasp.

Finally, Elliot and Ivy pin my arms to the table as my alpha starts to clean my shallow neck wound.

The fire in my leg has died down with it being wrapped, and my muscles slowly relaxed into the hard wood. I look up into the worried, slit, green eyes of my new family, and give a soft sigh as I feel myself growing tired.

"I'm sorry." I say, feeling loopy for some reason- maybe blood loss.

"For what?" Alexis asks softly from beside my head, pushing my hair back from my sweat-covered face.

My face scrunches up. "For messing up, causing problems, being a burden."

"No, no, Kitten, you are just fine. You're not a burden at all, and once we train you up real good, you would be able to take on that mangy mutt with your eyes closed," she whispers softy, and I smile.

"I just wanted to see what the smell was."

"I know, Kitten. Go to sleep now; I know you're tired."

"M'kay," I mumble, letting my eyes close and my body surrender completely to unconsciousness.

* * *

 **A/N: One more chapter, and then the Cullens! I know it's taking awhile, but I wanted to establish some bonding first before reintroducing old hurts.**

 **So, Bella ran into one of the wolves. Thoughts? Who do you think it was?**

 **Review!**

 **~Silver~**


	11. Chapter 11

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 11

I groan staring up at the ceiling, boredom fogging my mind, and I momentarily play with the idea of getting up and going to school. _School_. I'm so desperate for entertainment that I want to go to _school_.

When has learning useless stuff ever sufficed as a good entertainment before?

I glance over at the TV from my place on the couch and sigh as I see the remote laying right below it.

"Aurora!" I call and she exits the kitchen with an annoyed expression.

"When will everyone get home?" I ask sweetly.

"They just left an hour ago; if you didn't want to be on house arrest for a week, you shouldn't have gone looking for trouble."

"I was curious," I defend weakly, knowing full well that I was in the wrong.

She points a spatula at me and I briefly notice how she always seems to be cooking something. "Curiosity killed the cat."

I widen my eyes comically. "What, no nine lives?"

A surprised burst of laughter as her scrambling to catch the kitchen utensil before it touches the floor.

"Have you no shame?" She smiles to show it was not criticism at that particular moment.

"I blame you people for that; you are very bad influences on me." I shift only to wince when my leg rubs the couch cushion uncomfortably. "And I thought you said that we heal quickly," I complain, a pout forming on my lips.

"You are healing slower than normal because you decided to pick a fight with another super natural animal, and one that is bigger than you at that." Her voice takes on a scolding tone. "You're lucky that I was able to convince Charlie that you had that fever again and that I could watch out for you, otherwise we would have some problems."

"You know, it has been three days and you still have yet to tell me what that creature was."

Aurora sighs and walks back into the kitchen, me struggling to my feet and limping after her.

"That was a shifter; a man that can turn into a wolf." She says at the stove, flipping or stirring some things. I slump into a chair.

"So a werewolf, kind of like us."

"Not quite." I tilt my head in confusion and try to sense her feeling to determine how she interprets the subject. "Any were-animal relies on the moon for their transformation. They can be bit or born into this life; as for the shifters, the gene is passed down through generations and only if the gene is triggered. They have no connection to the moon as we do."

"Wait, then who are the shifters? Wouldn't I know if there are other supernaturals in this town?" I ask, something inside me growing uneasy.

"I thought you would have guessed. There are some boys on the reservation-" She brakes off having heard a snapping sound, but the anger is too distracting to notice the arm of a chair in my hand, splinters digging into my palm.

"That bastard if a freaking wolf," I growl jerking to my feet and ignoring the slight throb that pierces my leg. "That stupid bastard is a freaking wolf and he didn't tell me!" I snarl and the arm of the chair shatters in my hand.

"Who?" Aurora asks.

"Jacob, that's who! I should have known as soon as I changed that he was one, he had the same signs as me and I'm assuming that the process is similar." My arms start to shake and I focus hard on getting them to stop but my torso starts to tremble as something else dawns on me.

"That's why he ditched me isn't it? Cause now that he has all these cool wolfy powers, he doesn't need some stupid and weak human friend?!"

"Izzy, calm down or take it outside!" Aurora demands setting her utensils down and rounding the counter. "I'm sure that that wasn't the reason he cut your ties; being a new born anything is very difficult, not to mention dangerous for the people around you. He was probably doing it to protect you."

"Protect me? He ruined me! I don't care if it would have been dangerous, I would have rather him kill me than for someone else that I love to leave me, and he knows that!"

Her hazel eyes soften. "They really did hurt you, didn't they," she whispers.

"I'm not hurt- I'm angry!"

She clutches her heart. "I can feel how much you hurt beneath all that anger, we all can, and we are so sorry that anyone can hurt you that bad."

 **"Oooh, Bella Bear, come play with me! I'm going to totally cream you," Emmett calls joyfully, leaning against the couch while Rosalie plays with his hair and reads a car magazine.**

 **"Oh goodie, the human is here," she grumbles loud enough for me to hear.**

 **"Hush Rosalie," Esme says stepping out of the kitchen with a freshly baked plate of cookies. "Bella is always welcome."**

 **"Ah, Bella, could you come up hear please?" Carlisle asks poking his head around the stairs. "If it is possible, I would like to do some more tests on why Edward can't read your mind."**

 **"Leave the poor girl alone Carlisle," Alice says, appearing right in front of me in the blink of an eye. She hugs me happily and brushes a cool kiss on my cheek and affection makes my heart ache. "It's my turn, so she's going to come play with me."**

 **Jasper appears at the top of the stairs more slowly than his girlfriend and gives a warm smile.**

 **"She's my girlfriend, shouldn't she be here to visit me?" Edward says from the piano, annoyance audible in his voice.**

 **"She's our family too, we have a right to spend time with her." Alice has this strange glint in her eyes, almost possessive, and my heart once again throbs.**

For the first time since I've been bit, I find myself collapsing to the ground from the pain in my chest. It feels like someone's hand has pierced right through it to start ripping out everything that fills it. I clutch my sides desperately, my gasps loud and raw, trying to keep myself together.

Aurora's cry of pain gives me enough strength to force the pain down and draw up the numbness that I had reverted to after the pain mask.

I raise my eyes to see her clutching her sides much like I was, and gasping.

"I'm sorry." My voice sounds lost and detached from my body.

"My, god." She says wiping tears and straightening up. "What was that?"

"I'm sorry," I repeat. "I didn't mean for you to feel that; I thought I was done with that stage a month ago."

I pick myself up from the ground and limp back to the couch, feeling her stare on my back the entire way.

Not five minutes later, the front door bursts open and six stray cat children stumble in with wild looks in their eyes.

"What happened," Angel demands eyes landing on me before moving to look for his mother.

"You okay Kitten?" Alexis asks worriedly, eyes roving the room for any threats.

"We're just fine," Aurora says coming out of the kitchen once more, a strain to her voice.

"But that pain-" Ivy gasps and Elliot finishes.

"It felt like someone was dying."

"It did, didn't it," I say flipping a page in my book that I had picked up on the path to the couch. "Sorry about that; _I_ haven't even gotten used to that feeling."

"What are you talking about?" Ian asks looking to Aurora for answers, and I know that he is searching her emotions.

It is strange being numb, but feeling things at the same time. Their panic, confusion, and worry. Sadness as well.

"Izzy was just... remembering her old family."

I can feel a slight probing, a warmth in my tattoo, and I know someone or all of them are trying to read my emotions. "Yes, but they're gone now, and I will never see them again."

A nervousness hums through me, a feeling that is not my own, and I look up from my book curiously.

"Aurora, can we speak to you in private?" Angel asks tersely, and I start to feel panic- an emotion that is entirely my own.

"Wait," I gasp sitting up. "I'm sorry, I really am." They can't leave me because of this. "I'll block it; deal with it somehow, okay?"

"Izzy, relax." Ivy says stepping forward and taking my hand, warmth in her eyes. "We're not going anywhere."

Alexis takes my other hand from around the back of the couch. "Yeah Kitten, we already told you that we wouldn't leave you. The boys just need to tell her something that happened at school today."

"Right, well why don't we talk in the kitchen. Food is almost ready." I don't pay attention to them leaving as I look up desperately at them. Eva sits on the armrest.

"You're not... leaving me?"

 **"You don't... want me?"**

"Of course not, honey." Ivy coos and all of them scoot closer to hug me.

Being called honey makes me feel like a child, a little kid, and it's so comforting when they wrap their arms around me. It's like they are trying to protect me.

"What would I do without my Kitten?" Alexis asks slipping over the back of the couch to squish me against the two bodies.

"And I need at least one other sane female in this family." Eva smiles, squeezing my leg.

The affection I feel rise up is just as strong as it was with the Cullens, and it makes the three of them gasp as they feel it as well.

Tears well in their eyes as they look down at me, and my tattoo burns as I feel the emotion pushed back at me not from three, but seven other ways.

"Oh, Izzy, we love you too," Ivy says sniffing as their arms tighten and even Eva throws herself at me.

"We will always do everything in our power to protect you," Eva whispers in my ear. "We will always be here for you no matter what."

A sob breaks my throat, and I hope with all my might that this is real because if it isn't, I will surely die.

Hands, I don't know whose, stroke my hair as I'm rocked like a baby and I suppose, to them, I am. They had told me that they don't age, so they could have lived hundreds of lifetimes before I was even born.

* * *

 **A/N: Cullens next chapter! Also, incase you guys didn't know (but you probably figured it out on your own) bold letters are flashbacks.**

 **Please review!**

 **~Silver~**


	12. Chapter 12

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 12

"I'm fine." I argue with Ivy as I change into clean clothes for the day. "I turned cat the past two nights and it has been a week since it happened. Look!" I say rolling up my pant leg with a roll of my eyes. "There's barely even a scar."

"I'm just saying, maybe a few more days just in case." She argues and I just turn back around to put a shirt on. After being carried a few miles naked by a boy, the embarrassment about my body seemed to have died off.

"Aurora gave me the all clear- I'm fine." I can feel her nervousness, and something makes me think that it has nothing to do with my leg. "And if I'm gone any longer, people will start to get suspicious. I can't pretend to be asleep whenever Charlie visits, all the time."

She sighs in defeat as I put on the new shoes I bought a week ago. Or _one_ of the pair of new shoes. Apparently I'll have a lot of mishaps and torn clothing, so now I have more than could fit in my closet.

As I walk down the stairs with Ivy gloomily following me, something flashes from the corner of my eye, and I duck without a blink.

A book smacks the girl behind me in the head instead of me, and I grin at her as she scowls at an innocent looking Elliot.

You would think that, being injured and all, my training would be put on hold, but sadly, no. They have been throwing things at me left and right and I have healed more bruises this week than I have in my life- which coming from me, the clutz queen, is saying something.

And let me tell you, they are not throwing soft things.

I have had apples, books, vases, even forks and knives, chucked at my head this past week. Luckly Aurora stopped the kitchen utensils early on, and I avoided getting an eye speared out.

"Mm, smells good." I purr sniffing the buffet breakfast laid out. I briefly wander how they could afford all this food and a house this big when I've never seen any of them actually work.

"What's your question kitten?" Even Aurora has taken to the pet name, though only Alexis uses it capitalized.

I sit down looking over all the eggs and plates stacked high with bacon and sausage and biscuits.

"I was just wandering how you could afford all this stuff." I say, grimacing when she slaps my hand for reaching for some food.

"I am a writer, and my books sell very well. Dig in." She says when everyone finally sits down at the table. I automatically reach for food knowing that if I hesitate, all of it will be gone before I blink.

"Really? What books?"

"Well, I wrote the Hunger Games-"

"Wait." I gasp, momentarily forgetting the biscuit I had slathered with strawberry jelly. "You're Suzanne Collins?"

"I can't really use my real name now can I?"

"Who else are you?" I devourer my first bisket.

"J.K. Rowling, Harper Lee-"

"William Shakespeare," Ian adds swallowing a strip of bacon whole.

"You're William _Shakespeare_?"

"No." Eva scowls punching the boy as he laughs. "He's just pulling your leg with that one."

"Oh." I frown and chuck a biscuit at his head. It bounces harmlessly off as he reaches for more meat. "You suck."

"I think it's time we get to school or we'll be late," Angel chuckles.

"I agree," I say, standing to find my backpack that Charlie had brought over the other day.

A few minutes later we fall into the van and start down the drive.

As we get closer to school, I feel more and more tension and nervousness rise.

Finally, Elliot speaks. "Um, there's something we have to tell you." He mumbles.

I sit straighter in my seat. "You see…," Ian continues, but hesitates.

"Oh, you guys are a bunch off babies," Alexis hisses at them and turns to me. "The Cullens are back. They have been coming to school the past few days, and they've been looking for you."

It's like time stands still- my curious smile frozen to my face, eyes staring at her unseeing. I don't even notice when we park as my breath stops half way into my throat.

Then a fire erupts in my stomach in a rage so strong that it takes everything in me to keep from ripping the door off its hinges as I throw myself out of it.

 _Calm down_ , I tell myself, _just calm down and don't explode in the parking lot. You can handle this._ I pace furiously and I tug at my hair painfully, and despite everything, a little voice in the back of my head notices that I need to cut it. Again.

My shaking stops slightly as a warm hand rests worriedly on my shoulder. Another hand slips into mine and the shaking stops completely.

"Don't let me rip them apart," I say simply, the cat in me purring at the prospect, and start to walk to my first period class with new strength. I might not even have to see them.

Ivy splits off when we get to the door, but Alexis follows me right in.

When the time comes for lunch, Ivy and Alexis hook their arms through mine and lead me out into the light drizzle. It feels good on my hot flesh, and I strip my sweater off with little resistance from the rest of the group.

They seem to know that I need cooling off, which is unsurprising with our empathy link.

Not even eating, I layback in the damp grass with my pack, pride as they call themselves since they're cats, and look up at the cloud covered sky as raindrops fall into my eyes. They roll down my cheeks like tears, but I feel strangely at peace as I successfully ignore reality.

It's not until Biology that I see one of them. Him.

And he's just sitting there in his old seat like always, a smile lighting his face as he sees me. I think he might even jump to his feet too, until he sees Ivy, whose hanging tightly onto my arm. To anyone else, it would look friendly. But I know the truth; I can feel caution burning in my tattoo. It's a restraint- and a good thing to, because as soon as I see him, my body starts to tremble in anger.

My classmates look over curiously to see the reunion of Bella and Edward. They all know what his leaving did to me- I wonder if he does.

"Excuse me," Ivy speaks politely to Edward, but I can feel real hate buried deep in her emotions. "But this is my seat," she says.

"You must be mistaken." Edwards says, his voice as soft and melodic as it always was. Face just as beautiful and mesmerizing. And I hate him.

I find that there is no love in me anymore for this boy, only hate and resentment. The trembling moves up my arms and I can hear the grit of my teeth as I grind them together.

"You see," He continues. "I sat here, but then I left for a while. But I'm back now." He looks past Ivy and to me, smiling warmly. My chest rumbles.

"Exactly- you left." There is no more politeness in my sister's voice. "You don't just leave and then come back, picking up from where you left off." Her tone hints at something more than a seating arrangement, and some of her anger leaks through.

It seems to be enough to draw his attention back to her. His eyes narrow, and I briefly wander what he must be hearing in her mind.

"Is there a problem here?" The teacher asks, the bell having gone unnoticed by the three of us.

"Yes. Mr. Banner, this boy is sitting in my seat and wont move." Ivy tells him.

His eyebrows seem to dip some in displeasure at Edward, a first it would seem because surprise flickers through my ex's honey eyes. Even the teachers could see what he did to me and, apparently, I'm quite liked by this one.

"Mr. Cullen, that is not your seat anymore. Why don't you pull up a chair next to Jessica in the back; I'm sure she'd be more than willing to be your partner."

My lips twitch, remembering all the longing glances she would shoot at him, and desperate attempts to get him to notice her.

He scowls and stands up stiffly, walking to the back while the class snickers. Her affections weren't exactly secret, not just to the mind reader.

Ivy smiles and tugs me into our seat giggling, and I smile at her as she holds my hand under the table.

I can feel Edward's stare at the back of my head, and I force myself not to shift in discomfort because he will surly catch the movement.

A snicker has me glancing curiously to the girl beside me, but she is just staring at the board as the teacher talks, an amused smile revealing her sharp teeth.

I focus on my curiosity and push it at her hoping that she will understand my silent question.

She turns to me dipping her head close to my ear and whispers so low that even with his vampiric hearing, he wouldn't be able to hear.

"I can feel his glare trying to break open my skull."

I, too, giggle at that, a strange sound that I have never heard come from me before.

"I should probably warn you that he can read minds." I whisper back. "But for some reason, he could never read mine. I guess I've always been a freak." I joke in an attempt to get her mind off the first part I told her.

"He has an extra power?" She asks, rising an eyebrow. "Is there anything else that you might have forgot to mention?"

"Well, Alice, the smallest one, can see the future based on current decisions and Jasper, the blond male, can feel and manipulate emotions."

"So a telepath, empath, and a psychic. Powerful family."

"Very." I say. "Now if only I can get through the day without ripping one of them apart."

She squeezes my hand and I sigh, resting my head on her shoulder and closing my eyes for a few stress free seconds.

...

I get out of PE before anyone, desperate to be outside and let the rain drip onto my face. I really should have waited.

I'm halfway across the lot when I hear the sound of soft feet on gravel, too quiet to belong to any human and a sickly sweet smell hits my nose- like I had smelt in biology, but I had thought it was chemicals.

"Bella!" A familiar smooth voice calls and I turn to see a pale blur speeding towards me with a happy smile.

Stone cold and hard arms wrap around me, shocking against my heated skin and I hiss as the stench envelops me. My whole body shudders in anger as he hugs me.

 _How dare he! He left and now he's back, acting as if nothing happened?! We'll rip him apart before we let him touch us!_

I can feel the cat swishing its tail furiously and ramming into the metal bars of its cage, but the human side of me resists.

 _"Someone get this mosquito off me before I squish it!"_ I hiss.

Something rams into us from the side, tackling Edward to the ground and ripping him away from me.

I double over breathing hard while trying to control the change. Strong, warm, arms wrap around me from behind, pinning my arms to my sides and straightening me up.

"Calm down." Alexis demands as Ivy leaps to her feet and stands defensively in front of us.

"Let go of her!" Edward demands picking himself up as well, and I see cracks closing on the side of his face.

I see the rest of the Cullen children form a half circle around him, looking on with lost expressions- but my focus is solely on my ex.

Another shudder runs down my spine, and my skin feels so itchy.

"Just calm down Kitten, breath." Alexis whispers in my ear, and Edward twitches. "Take a deep breath and calm down." She instructs and places her hand over my heart that thunders like a war drum.

My tattoo burns as she pushes her calm at me, and I suck in a deep breath, my trembling subsiding.

"You good?" She asks. I nod but she doesn't release me as she turns to my Ex-boyfriend. "And what the hell do you think you're doing? Do you want to get killed?"

"Let go of my mate." He growls.

"Ha! She's not your anything." Alexis laughs, anger seeping in and affecting me as I start to shake again.

 _Mate? He left! He doesn't even love me!_

"She's mine!"

"She's _ours_!" Ivy snarls.

At this point, people are coming out of the school doors, not one person interested in making it to their cars and leaving. The two strange families, fighting over the chief's daughter; this must be quite a treat for them.

I feel, rather than see my other family members appear behind me. Their anger is strong and makes me react even more.

"Calm Kitten, you don't want to change in front of all these people do you?" She whispers in my ear.

Some guy from the crowd, probably thinking it'd be funny, shouts out in glee. "Dude, you turned Bella gay!"

Edward's head whips around, searching for the guy, or maybe someone's thoughts. His eyes darken to coal black at something he sees or hears.

"You're a dyke!" He exclaims at my sister and the rage that consumes me, coming from all our family, is blinding.

"Maybe I will give her to you, see what happens?" Alexis muses, slackening her hold.

That little bit of room is enough for me to rip free and lunge past Ivy.

Edward opens his arms as if expecting me to hug him, and just the thought has a snarl taring from my lips and my hands reach for his throat.

He's so much shorter than I remember him, and even in human form, I would be able to beat him easily.

There is a pale blur and suddenly, I'm looking into a different pair of obsidian eyes, so full of sadness and fear and my momentum stops short. Dark bags hang below her haunted orbs and something strange happens.

I hear a snip, like scissors cutting a string, echo around my skull, and for a brief moment, it feels like I'm floating, drifting in space. Then something stronger wraps around me and tugs me back down to earth, holding me there, to this girl in front of me.

Her ink black hair frames her face in unruly spikes, her clothes are wrinkled, nothing like she would normally allow herself to look like out in public.

Her face, like always, is pale and blemish free, still stunningly beautiful. Her lips are a soft pale pink, slightly parted as she forms words carefully.

"Please. Please don't hurt him." Her voice is so heartbreakingly sad and desperate, that how can I deny her anything?

My hand, which was still suspended in the air where it was ready to rip out Edward's throat, just brushes her cool cheek.

My fist clenches, then falls to my side as I tilt my head at this girl.

All the anger, all the resentment, was just suddenly gone as I looked into her eyes. How can someone so beautiful look like they're in that much pain?

Curses fall from lips behind me, but I barely hear them. Warm hands, familiar hands, grab my shoulders and pull me backwards, away from Alice.

Her pretty lips part, head tilted to the side in confusion and I can't seem to look away.

More curses reach my ears and the hands tug harder, practically dragging me before throwing me into a familiar van.

I sit where they set me, heart still pounding loudly, and just stare blankly out the windshield. Finally my brain seems to jumpstart again and I look around, just really noticing that we are driving down a road.

"What was that?" I gasp.

Alexis is grumbling grumpily to herself. "I can't believe she found her's before any of us. She's been a werecat for two weeks and she finds her imprint. All of us have been waiting for ours for at least a hundred years. Two weeks, two weeks!" She rants to her self.

"What was that?" I repeat louder this time, with more anger.

"We'll tell you when we get back to the house," Ian grimaces from the driver's seat.

"Why not now?"

His hands tighten around the steering wheel. "Because I like my van the way it is, and I don't need it any more broken."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys, so school is fun... not. Do any of you know VMI? It sucks. Don't go there unless you are a masochist.**

 **I am not fully back, I just happen to have a little time to edit and post this- So here it is! Enjoy! Please review and bring some happiness back into my life. I can't wait to not be a rat anymore.**

 **If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just don't worry about it.**

 **~Silver~**


	13. Chapter 13

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 13

My eyes stare unseeingly out into the forest, watching the slight shift of the leaves as a breeze brushes past. The woods are alive with life, large and small trampling over moss sodden grounds and through stagnant puddles that have yet to seeping into the drowned earth.

If I concentrate hard enough, I can imagine a large, white, mansion of a house nestled into the trees with a family of pale beings going about thier everlasting lives.

I can imagine a big burly boy sitting on the ground in front of a television, thumbs working furiously at a gaming system. I can imagine a gorgeous blond sitting just above him, playing with his hair affectionately as she reads a car magazine, and around the echoing walls I can imagine hearing the soft sounds of piano music lulling the house in peace.

I can imagine a caramel haired, heart face shaped woman appearing in the doorway to scold the large boy for using profanity, and up in the study on the floor above, a kind faced man flips papers, still in his white lab coat from his shift at the hospital.

In another room, I can imagine a pixy-like girl throwing clothes around the room, looking for the perfect outfit to wear the next day and planning out her next shopping trip.

In that room she flops down onto a large king sized bed, a bed that she moved in there not because she needed it, but because her best friend was spending the night and she was so excited.

Lies. They were all lies. The happiness, the excitement, the acceptance, the love. They were all lies. They never loved me.

And now I have to go and imprint on the tick that strung me along the second-best, my ex-boyfriend's sister.

A snarl rips from my throat, the wood railing enclosing the porch collapsing under my grip and sending inch long splinters into my palm. I pull them out harshly and feel as my skin does that weird tingling burn that it does when I heal myself.

"Izzy!" Aurora scolds, coming out of the door with half of a broken couch slung casually over her shoulder. "Didn't you break enough?"

Alexis appears behind her, chuckling in amusement with the missing half of furniture dragging lazily behind her. "She's just pissy because she got a leech for a lover."

My scowl deepens, but despite her humorous charade, I can feel the underlining concern.

"I wanted new furniture anyway," Eva comments from the door with a slight smile and my lips twitch.

My reaction was... let's just say non too pleasant. After we got back to the house, Aurora sat me down on the couch and explained imprinting, something that happens when you find your 'soul mate'. She then went on the tell me that I imprinted on Alice. A girl. A leech. A Cullen.

Now they need a new living room.

Elliot walks outside with a wide grin, a flat screen tv turned, well, flat. Like, really flat.

"If you two ever start making out, can I watch?" My lips twitch despite my best efforts for them not to. "I mean, yeah she's a blood sucker, but it'd still be hot."

His head jerks forward as someone hits him from behind.

"Oops." Ivy says unapologetically with the remains of a coffee table. "Sorry."

Aurora just laughs at us as she throws the debris into the back of a her old truck, the other's broken pieces soon following.

Ivy slings an arm around my shoulders, and I gratefully lean into her smaller frame with a sigh. I can feel the affection and concern rolling off of her, off of all of them, in waves.

Alexis joins on the other side, wrapping her arms around my waist and tilting her head into mine.

"This sucks," I hiss.

"At least it's not some stupid guy, like Mike," Ivy offers.

"No, it's worse. It's a Cullen," I growl, eyes narrowing to slits.

They turn quiet for a moment as the anger slowly dissipates with the help of my pride-mates' arms.

"Tomorrow we are going to go meet them at their house. Something about forming a treaty. Are you going?"

"Yes," I say firmly. "You are my pride; I will be there when it concerns my sisters and brothers."

"We will all understand if you don't want to go," Ivy sooths, rubbing my shoulder.

"You are my family." Then I smirk. "Besides, how can I be so cruel as to subject you to their stench alone? If they try anything other than business, I'll rip their heads off."

I hear multiple chuckles, some coming from inside the house.

"Let's go for a run," Ivy says stepping back and bouncing excitedly. "You can go for a stress reliver. You coming Alex?"

"Hells yeah." She grins wolfishly and starts tugging at her shirt.

I bare my teeth in a smile and start racing towards the trees, pulling off clothing as I go, my body already trembling in preparation for the change.

"Race you!" I call, and then I explode in a giant cat.

I hear yowls of joy behind me before I'm quickly tackled into a tree by a large flying black and white mass.

...

So school is great- it starting and ending with a broken nose.

"So, you were actually in World War I?" I ask Ian disbelievingly, interrupting him in the middle of his story of an encounter with foreign spies.

"Girl," He says, "I was in the Great Depression. And let me tell you, that was a depressing time."

I laugh in response to his guffawing at his own joke. We are halfway to the school doors when the foot appears in front of me. I easily jump over it and am triumphantly punching the air when a burning smell hits my nostrils, making me trip anyway.

I crash into a brick wall head first and hear a sickening crunch, like someone stepping on a cracker, a second before a pain, sharp and aching, spreads across my face.

"Mother f-" I hope up and down clutching my nose as tears sting and roll hotly down my face.

"Bella, I'm so sorry!" A voice exclaims and icy hands cup my face. I jerk back on instinct, choking on a hiss as blood fills my mouth.

"Oooh," A voice says beside me, turning my body and probing my face. "Yup it's broken," Alexis says. "Those are always strangely painful bones to break. Hold still so I can set it."

"No!" I gasp trying to pull away but her grip on my face is firm and my efforts are only rewarded with more pain on my part.

"Hold still, before it starts to heal and I have to re-break it." She looks at something behind me. "Hmm, Edward is humping a car."

"What?" I say before there is another crack as Alexis jerks my nose back in place and the pain spikes. There is immediately an intense heat and tingling as my body starts to heal the injury.

"Holy mother of-" I hop around before turning and punching Alexis in the gut as she laughs at my pain.

But then I forget the tingling and ache in my face and tilt my head.

"Woah." I reach out and gently prod her stomach. It's like poking a brick, only slightly more squishy-y.

"Cool, you've got abs."

"You've seen me naked before; how are you just noticing this?" She laughs, making the muscles in her stomach clench even more. I prod again, using both hands.

Honestly, I don't even know what I was doing. A sound of disgust comes from behind me but my mind doesn't really comprehend it.

"Yeah, but we were kind of busy. I didn't really look."

"I looked at you."

"Yeah, well, you're kind of a pervert. Is mine like that?" I move to poke my own stomach and Alexis tilts her head curiously, feeling my muscles as I had done to hers.

I frown slightly. While my stomach is not exactly soft, it's not hard like hers either.

"Oh, I want to feel!" Ivy gasps and reaches her hand out as well. "Oh, it's just a kitten belly!" She coos, teasing in her eyes as she looks up at me.

"Is everyone's like that?" I ask reaching out to her stomach, then Ian's who is right behind her, then Eliot and Angel's and even Eva. Surprisingly, even calm and collected Eva has abs of stone.

"Well damn," I sigh. I really am soft.

"Don't worry sis." Eliot crows; throwing an arm around me. "We'll get you tough as nails soon."

I return his grin as he wipes at the blood on my face with his sleeve. Each stroke sends an ache across my face, but it's not as painful as before. I judge that it will be fully healed in an hour or so.

"Bella, are you okay?" A voice, the one that I had cringed away from, breaks through my perfectly perfect bubbly, making a scowl curve my lips.

I turn to face Edward, who is most defiantly not humping a car- curse Alexis and her strange distraction techniques (I really do not need that image in my head).

"What?" I growl in annoyance. I really don't need this right now.

"May I speak to you?" He asks, eyes going wide and boring into mine like they used to. He seems to be trying to dazzle me. I scoff at the idea.

"Speak all you want; it doesn't mean I'll listen." I say pushing past him to continue on my way to the school doors.

My eyes connect with Alice, eyes black and so full of pain that my breath catches. She looks so devastated as she looks at me, and then her eyes shift to Alexis's and Ivy's hand in mine, before she quickly looks to the ground. I turn away as well.

"So did you do the homework last night?" I ask Alexis, ignoring Edward as he stumbles after me trying to get my attention.

"I did," She says casually.

"Bella, please just talk to me." Edward begs. "I left to protect you!"

"Well, can I maybe take a peek at it? I kind of forgot to do it," I say sheepishly.

"Yeah, because you were too busy smashing furniture." Ian jokes, but we ignore him.

"No you may not," she harrumphs. "I worked long and hard on the worksheet and I will not be copied by someone that cannot be bothered with it."

"Oh please, it wouldn't have taken you two minutes."

"-Bella, it's not my fault!"

I try to ignore the rising anger as Ivy glances sideways at me worriedly.

"And that was two minutes of my life that I will never get back." Alexis sniffs.

"I still love you!"

A painful, itchy shutter trembles my body as I whirl around to face the pale god of a boy. Only, all I see is a deceiver, a devil.

"Don't lie to me!" I snarl as hands snake out to hold me back, trembling in response to my own.

It's a strange thing sharing the emotions and differencing them from another… thing in me. Because that's what it is: a thing- a beast.

I never was the violent type before I was bit, but now all I seem to want to do is tear things apart.

The cat in me right now, I can feel roaring at the bars in my cage, rattling it and sending a tremor through my body. There are only a few things that we agree on. One of those is the want to protect our family. The other is that we hate the Cullens.

I clench my fists and bare my teeth threateningly.

"I'm sorry that I left, but I'm back now! We can be together and you don't need the mutts anymore."

For a second, just a split second, I let my cat take full rein on my body. But that is as long as we needed to thrash from the restraining arms.

Not only is he a Cullen, a person that I loathe, but he disrespected me, my family, and he had to pay. Calling them mutts, insinuating that I was with them because I didn't have him?

I blink and I can see again.

He cradles his nose where spider web-like cracks crawl from behind his hands. I had broken his nose.

Punching him was like concrete and had I still been human, all the bones in my hand would be broken. But I am not human. I am werecat and I have a strength that I didn't have before. My knuckles throb slightly, just a tinge of red from the impact, but that quickly disappears in a few tingling seconds.

Pale figures creep closer. They stand in nonthreatening positions, looking as if they would not attack.

I quickly skip over Alice's pain filled face and move to Jasper. He stands stiffly with a slight frown of concentration. Emmet looks a mix between being sad and cheering for me for beating up his brother.

But most surprising of all, is that when I meet Rosalie's eyes, she is not glaring at me like she usually is. Her gaze is steady, regarding me with an almost curiosity.

"No one is going to disrespect or insult me or my family; especially a blood sucker. I cannot drive you away, but I'm telling you now that I want nothing to do with you. You left and now you cannot take back your words. They are as sharp as a knife in my side and the mark will never go away.

The next time you insult my family, I will tear your head from your body and burn you to ashes."

He looks up at me with wide eyes as I glare down at him. I can see my own face reflected in his honey colored orbs. My eyes are an unearthly green, pupils dilated and turned into the slits of the cat.

I clench my eyes shuts and take deep trembling breaths; I force my muscles to loosen. When I open my eyes, they are the normal dark brow with only the ring of green.

"Come on Kitten." Alexis murmurs, nudging me to continue on the path to class.

"You sure you want to come with us tonight?" Eva asks worriedly.

"I'm fine." I snap harshly, internally wincing when she flinches.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright guys. Just got back from break so here's a small treat. I will be once again going underground for at least 3 more weeks I think. But I'm still updating! Just slowly.**

 **Sigh. Please review!**

 **~Silver~**


	14. Chapter 14

Cat Got Your Tongue

Chapter 14

The ground is cool and damp under my paws but the forest ground seems to steam wherever my body had once been. Branches tug at my fur in resistance as I push my legs harder to keep up with my pride.

I am by no means slow but my reluctance to reach my destination weighs on me like a truck.

I focus on the sounds around me, the wind pressing into my ears; I can feel my heart drumming a steady beat despite my unease.

Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump- on and on again and my feet unconsciously pick up the rhythm with the stride.

My ears flick in response to the footfalls beside me, and I let out a sigh as a black and brown pelt brush against me on either side.

I focus on their thoughts, comforting from Ivy and random from Alexis in a way that makes me snort in amusement. A head nudges me from behind, urging me to go faster. We are already late.

I know when we arrive because the smell snuffs out all other. It's a burning sent that is too sweet. Like someone took a bath in perfume.

I had always hated the stuff; it was too strong yet people insisted on ten sprays every hour.

Shortly after, we come to a walk when we reach the edge of a forest line and together we stop. The tallest kneels down to let our alpha to the ground.

Pale figures emerge from the house in near silence. The things glide across the forest so quietly that I have to strain my ears to hear their tread.

A low rumble starts in my throat as they draw closer, and my muscles tense. Aurora glances briefly at me, a warning look, and turns to Carlisle. She is the only one in human form because even though I told them that they only hunt animals, they won't trust a leach.

Carlisle's eyes regard me with regret, and I force my nails to sink into the ground rather than his marble skin.

"I have asked you here to discuss a treaty for our families," he starts.

"State your demands, we might as well not take longer than this needs to be." Aurora again shoots a look at me, and my tail lashes. Before we left, she commanded me not to attack the Cullens unless they initiate the fight.

"We wish for you to abstain from attacking our family and refrain from telling anyone of our origin. And we would also wish for you to leave the residence of Forks be." His eyes once again drift to me as if he already knows that it is me. I force my eyes to remain on his, instead of drifting around the family I once knew, like I actually want to.

"And we could only wish the same as you," Aurora replies in her calm together voice, very much differentiating from my own screaming profanities at my old family in my head. I get a few rumbles in response to my high emotions.

My tail lashes.

Aurora's eyes regard me calmly. "If that is all-"

"Actually," Carlisle steps forward and is greeted with multiple warning growls from my brothers and sisters. Even my constant rumble growls louder in warning. "I would appreciate it if you spoke with the wolves and tell them that we have returned. It would be unfortunate if we came across them by accident."

A yowl of protest stems from Ivy's lips and even Aurora hisses.

"We are not your messengers; if you want them notified, do it yourselves. Our last run in with them was less than pleasant."

 _'I'd say; they nearly took off my leg!'_ I stomp in irritation, and we all shift.

 _'And you nearly made my ears bleed with all your moaning and complaining.'_ Ian says.

 _'I was moaning and complaining about you throwing lamps and books at my head.'_ I retort and Elliot snorts.

Alexis's head bumps him in the shoulder.

"Calm Alexis," Aurora says, turning her back fully on the vampires. Angel steps forward to create a wall and kneels for her to get on his back. "The treaty is set so now we should be leaving."

"Wait!" A tinkling, high-pitched voice calls, and everyone seems to freeze. "Bella, I need to talk to you!"

Her voice is desperate, fearful, regretful. I turn to Alice and memories surface creating a background static as she begs me to stay.

Anger. How can she act so pitiful when I'm the one she left- I'm the one who lost everything. How can she make me feel guilt for what _she_ did. What they all did.

"We had to leave Bella, it wasn't safe for you, it was never safe for you. We thought that we could not be dangerous but we were wrong and we're sorry. I'm sorry for leaving you."

 _'You're sorry I'm reacting this way; that I'm not running into your cold dead arms the moment you return!'_

 _'Izzy honey, they can't hear you,'_ Eva says softly.

 _'Because they don't listen_ \- you don't listen!" My voice, loud and real, tears through the night, scattering birds farther into the woods. "You play these games and leave, then you return and expect everything to go back to the way it was!"

Her eyes go wide at me as I stand feet from her, naked and trembling in rage.

"Don't pretend that you ever loved any of us other than Edward!" She fumes. "You only came over for Edward, you just put up with the rest of us."

"I LOVED YOU ALL! You, Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Jasper, Emmitt, even Rosalie and she hates my guts! Sure Edward was my boyfriend, and yeah I loved him, but I loved all of you just as much. I thought of you as family and I didn't even consider what would happen if I let myself get close to you. I let myself build you up so much in my life that when you left, everything that I had was gone too!"

My chest seizes and my arms automatically go to wrap around myself as pain shreds through my heart. All the agony of their abandonment come to shards in my hands.

Cries of pain come from my family as they experience what I feel and the Cullens look around wildly for anything that could be causing them such hurt. But it's me hurting my family, and just that makes me gasp again as the ache goes even deeper. But I have to finish what I was saying even though Alice looks about ready to cry if she could.

"And I find out that it was all a game to you, that everything that I felt means nothing. I HATE you! The only one that I don't hate is Rosalie- at least she was honest from the very beginning!"

"Izzy I-"

"No!" I snap, anger roaring in my chest as I ignore her desperate look. "You don't get to call me that anymore; only family and friends get to call me that. Not you- never you."

She reaches for me and I turn away from her touch and when I hear her sob, I almost take it all back. Tears pour down my face, choking me from anything that I could say.

"What did he say to you?" Her question ends in a sob.

"The truth." I answer and take off as fast as I can into the trees as I feel the change seize my body, not nearly as hard as it usually comes.

My family whispers in my head words that I don't understand and they become so frustrating trying to comprehend that I change back to human, feeling weaker than I ever have as a cat.

…

Edward's POV

"What did you say to her!?" Alice turns on me, hissing and voice horse. I have never heard a vampire's voice be horse before.

Pain filled thoughts swamp mine and I strain once again to read the cats', any of their thoughts, as they try to recover from whatever it was that was attacking them.

My own chest aches at the way Bella had looked so angry. Alice's eyes are a dark black, challenging me to do anything but answer the question truthfully. I never told them exactly what I had told her.

"I-I told her that I never loved her." I whisper lowly, hoping against hope that she doesn't hear. "I told her that none of us loved her and that she was just a game to us to pass time."

Her eyes blaze like she is physically trying to shoot fire at me through them; and I flinch at her thoughts, all my family's thoughts. Esme's agony and Carlisle's disappointment. Emmitt mentally smashes my face in as Jasper's thoughts convey just how disapproving he is of my actions.

But Alice's are the loudest, the most fury and actual hate directed at me.

"How could you say that- hurt her like that?!" She lunges at me but Rosalie catches her before she can do any damage.

"I thought that if she thought that we didn't care, she would move on faster. I didn't know."

"Even I'm not that cruel." Rosalie comments with a shake of her head.

A voice that belongs to no thoughts startles me out of drowning in the curses from my shortest sister.

"You were not just playing with her feelings?" A girl asks, the one called Ivy, and I carefully keep my eyes on hers. I have hardly ever seen a naked girl before, except by accident. It would be rude to stare.

"Of course not!" Alice exclaims distraughtly. "She's my best friend."

"Best friends don't just leave without a word," the taller girl with dark brown hair behind her said. And I tried hard not to listen to the remorseful thoughts coming from my shortest sister.

 _She's mine_ , I think to her, knowing that she can't read minds. That's my talent. _She will never be yours like you want her to be._

"If I had gone to say good bye to her, she would have asked me to stay, and I would have."

Everyone is silent, not knowing where to go from there. The werecats look uncomfortable standing in front of us and the shorthaired blond boy changes back into a sandy colored feline.

The most mellow looking girl, though still with a cold look directed at my family, runs her finger through his fur as though to calm him.

Finally Aurora speaks, and it's not as brittle as before. "Regardless of your motives, you hurt Isabella and we cannot forgive you for that. Now whether she forgives you or not, is for her to decide."

The pack leader swinging up onto one of the cats is a clear goodbye, and the rest who were still human quickly changed with glowering looks directed at my family and I, before racing off in the direction my Bella went.

…

Bella's POV

Birds fly up and scatter, sending rain falling from still leaves as I skid to a stop, panting and heart racing. I wait as the scrapes and scratches that I had accumulated during my run to heal, and fall back on my butt.

Mud cakes my legs but the cool, damp forest has no effect on me temperature wise. The sounds of dripping leaves and scuffling of a small animal farther off, or the panicked flight of birds has my heart calming, and the clenching lighten up.

It's so stupid to be having these reactions about them- they left. They don't care about me, so I shouldn't be bothered with hurt feelings about them.

I should just pretend that they don't exist and be done with them.

I flop back into the moss and breathe in the musky sent of forest deeply, calming me even more.

I should be glad that they left, because if they hadn't, I wouldn't have my pack now, be this wild thing that could lay in a forest naked without any fear at all. I would still be strung along, the foolish human, by a group of vampires that cared nothing of me.

At least I know now, and I'm not ever going to be that girl who lets a possessive, controlling boyfriend dictate her life.

I am strong now. I have a pack, a family, and every time I hurt for the Cullens, my family hurts for me.

All I shall harbor for them now, is hate and anger.

A branch snaps somewhere to my right, but I don't twitch or even move, other than my eyes in that direction- I had heard the large padding of footsteps long ago and I already know that it's one of my pack.

I take in the dark brown fur and the glowing green eyes that look over me in concern, before crossing my arms behind my head and stare up at the grey stormy sky.

The cracking and breaking sound of bones makes me wince, but two minutes later, a human body lies down next to me with a soft sigh.

I want the Cullens to hurt, like I did, or leave like they did before so I can be left in peace with my family.

I don't want to be imprinted with Alice Cullen; I don't want anything to do with her, but my cat aches to run back and fling itself down at her feet and beg for forgiveness for hurting her.

I won't let her.

Shifting, I throw my leg over my friend's hip and press my palms into Alex's shoulders to hold her to the squishy ground, my eyes narrowing in concentration.

Her eyebrow lifts in surprise and she opens her mouth to say something, but I lean down and capture her lips in mine with bruising force.

Why can't she be my imprint instead- or Ivy, or Eva, or Ian, or Elliot or Angel?

Why can't it be anyone but a Cullen?

Alexis sits up fast, gripping my hips tightly and returning the kiss with just as much heat.

Her skin is hot to the touch, and it's a lot of skin, as I drag my nails up her back and push my body closer.

"I don't want her," I whisper as she slams me backward and into the ground with a growl. I gasp as real nails sink into my thighs, drawing blood.

"You do," she says lightly biting my neck and then soothing it with her tongue. "You are angry right now, and hurt, but you want her more than anything."

She kisses me hard one more time before nuzzling into my neck and rolling us both on our sides.

"And I love you Izzy, but not as a lover," she sighs, warm breath puffing my collar bone. And it feels so wrong. "You have an imprint, so it's not right for me to keep you from her or for you to keep me from mine."

"Why can't I be yours and you be mine?" I ask, nuzzling into her long dark hair that has a few twigs tangled in it. She smells of forest and wild and freedom. "Why can't it be anyone else but a Cullen?"

She sighs, gently kissing my collar bone. "Because no matter how much you will deny it, she is your other half."

I bite my lip, caressing the bare skin of her shoulder and back absently. Maybe it's a cat thing, being able to cuddle like this, naked, without me feeling the slightest bit awkward or uncomfortable.

"So, you're saying that I should forgive her?"

"I'm saying that no matter what, you will want to be with her. Imprinting does not automatically make you mates, though. You will be whatever she needs, and that can be a sister, a best friend, or a lover. We get the short and of the stick because while they can love anyone, our imprint is it for us."

A bird chirps overhead, and I can hear something digging a few hundred yards away. Being cat is amazing; I can hear, see, smell so much more and I wouldn't give it up for anything.

Especially a Cullen.

"So why'd you kiss me back?"

I can feel her grin against my skin. "Because you needed me to. Plus we cats are very affectionate. I kiss every one else all the time."

"Really?" I ask in surprise, both my eyebrows shooting up.

"Yeah, well, except for Aurora, that'd just be weird. And Ivy and Elliot don't kiss, they actually are brother and sister, but the rest of us do. It's a friendly kind of thing, you know, hello, goodbye, the sorts."

"How come I've never seen this?" I ask suspiciously. This would be something Alexis would joke about after all, and she loves pulling my leg.

She shrugs. "We don't hide it- it's not awkward for us and we don't care what other people think."

…

"Huh," I say in thought.

She releases me and rolls to her feet.

"Well, we should head back now so your dad doesn't freak out about you being gone so long."

I heave a heavy sigh before flipping onto my feet. "Fine, let's go."

I close my eyes, feeling for the moon where it's hidden behind a blanket of thick clouds. My skin starts to itch and muscles burn as my breath hitches in my throat at my pounding heart. It sounds like a war drum as I frantically search in myself for the wild animal that is caged in metal bars.

She had been fairly quiet this whole night, but now I reach for the faintest flicker of her.

I focus on the woodsy smell, the leaves and moss on my bare feet, remember the feel of freedom and strength that I feel while running as a cat.

My stomach is jerked into my throat, making me choke and fall to my knees as I feel the bones in my legs break and grow, stretching my skin painfully as they find a new place and shape.

Finally the pain recedes and I can breathe normally again as I stand taller than a few baby trees.

Taking a deep breath, I look over at my pack mate and see her already staring down at me with glowing green eyes. She nods to me.

 _'Relatively easy,'_ she says- thinks- in an impressed sounding tone. _'You're getting the hang of this pretty fast.'_

 _'And you're getting slow.'_ I say, taking off into the brush in the direction I instinctively know to be the Pisica's house.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading and please review! I'm can't promise a quick update.**

 **~Silver~**


	15. Chapter 15

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 15

Going to school the next day after all the big drama seems almost unreal. Two years ago, a bunch of vampires and werecats meeting up under the half moon would seem like some movie or fairy tale, but it's the mundane stuff now that I can't seem to trust.

It's school and the humans and even Charlie that seem like the fairytale. Running as a giant cat, super healing, and supernatural creatures coming from every angle are the reality, not bad grades or worrying about prom.

So you can understand my bafflement at my alarm going off at seven am and realizing that I still had to go to school.

I groan as I shimmy into my new dark-wash jeans and black shirt. Ivy had explained to me, while helping me pick out new clothes, that darker garments hide stains better. Stains like blood or just when one of us decides to roll around in the mud and feels the need to drag me with them.

With a scowl, I also shrug on the sweater she made me get.

Charlie, like always, is gone when I make it downstairs so I'm free to stuff myself full of breakfast that will hopefully tide me over until I can eat Aurora's mouthwatering home lunches.

Like always, I'm greeted immediately upon stepping foot out of my truck, with am arm thrown over my shoulder and another one wrapped around my waist.

I grin at the familiar warm arms, and surprise Ivy with a kiss as a greeting. After blinking, she laughs and slips her arm from my shoulder and her hand into mine. Alexis flashes a toothy smile.

It's with a light step and affection burning in my tattoo that I walk into school with my friends. Even the gaping stares of the student body aren't enough to make the mundane stuff seem real enough for me to care.

For lunch, I'm the first one to the lunch room and head straight out into the drizzle, allowing to cool water to sizzle off my skin. Elliot is the fist to arrive after me, plopping stomach first onto the wet picnic tabletop. My lips twitch, watching Alexis stalking him from the shrubs.

She sneaks forward, tiptoeing through the damp grass and shoves him hard where he gives a startled shout, feet and legs splaying as he's sent flying off the rotting wood.

I fall over laughing, trying hard not to waste my sandwich by dropping it.

Alexis plops down next to me with a self-satisfied grin, opening her own lunch bag.

"What was that for?!" Elliot snarls, leaping to his feet, clenching his fists.

"For throwing water on me this morning to wake me up," she retorts with her own scowl.

He's thoughtful for a moment before smartly letting it go with a huff and plopping onto the bench on the other side of the table. Alexis bares her teeth at him in response as Angel joins on her other side.

Ian slides in next to me as Eva and Ivy join the now pouting Elliot.

Lunch is finished quickly with several minutes to spare, so we sprawl out with our pleasantly full bellies, some laying across each other on the bench, some cuddled on the ground.

Eva and Angel are tucked in on either side of me while Ivy lies across Alexis's lap, who plays with her hair. I'm just able to make out Elliot's shaggy head of hair dangling off the table while Ian leans against Alexis's legs.

It all feels very natural and comforting, so much that the cat in me has a purr rumbling my chest. Eva giggles when she hears it, nuzzling into my neck and allowing her own rumble to be heard.

As we get up to go to the next class, I catch sight of the Cullen table, the pale vampires looking in every other direction just like I remember. I love what I have now, but a part of me still longs for what I lost, for what I apparently never had.

I turn my head away from Alice's sad, dark, eyes that had been staring at me even before I met them.

…..

A familiar smell, dog/human mixed with something wild, has my hair standing on end. I leap from Aurora's couch that I had been lounging on, causing Ivy who had been leaning into me, to fall sideways onto her face.

She glares halfheartedly before her nose twitches and she too leaps to her feet.

"Aurora!" I call into the house. "We have company!" She appears unsurprisingly from the kitchen, followed closely by her son and Alexis, who inconspicuously stuffs her mouth with hot meat that I'm sure Aurora would not have allowed her to sneak.

I'm briefly tempted to tattle on her before I'm brought back to the current problem at hand as Aurora's nose twitches and she calls out to the rest of the pride to gather.

Ian comes up from the basement as Elliot jumps the entire flight of stairs, closely followed by Eva.

"Why are the wolves here?" Eva asks wearily, her own nose twitching at the scent.

"To fight?" Elliot asks a little too eagerly for my taste as I still remember clearly how bad I lost against the last one. I might be better now, but I would still prefer a little more time before testing it.

"Let's go see," Aurora sighs, leading us to the door. "And Elliot, do not initiate a fight if they are not hostile."

He pouts. "Yes, mother."

Angel slaps him in the back of the head on his way past with a, "My mother."

We file into the front yard where not a second later, four shirtless boys flanked by two silver wolves slink out of the trees.

My teeth pull back in a snarl as I meet the eyes of my ex-best friend, before turning to none other than Sam Uley. Paul, I'm satisfied to see, has four pink scars running parallel on his cheek.

They stop a good fifteen yards away from my family.

"Isa?" Embry's confused voice is the first to break the silence, drawing the attention of everyone in the small clearing in front of the mansion.

I turn cold eyes to him, mentally hearing all his enthusiastic greetings and the affectionate tone whenever he called me by that nickname.

Sam shoots him a look, and he immediately falls back into line with a helpless look directed at me.

"Bella, what are you doing here?" Sam asks.

"What are you doing on private property?" I retort.

"Izzy, peace," Aurora sighs. "You know good and well why they would seek us out. I'm actually surprised it took so long."

I duck my head in shame.

"You attacked one of my wolves," Sam says, indicating to Paul who is visibly shaking in repressed anger.

"But that's not fair; it was an accident!" I argue, unable to keep quiet. Aurora sighs. "Besides, he attacked first; I just ran into him!"

Sam's eyebrows shoot up on his forehead. "You were the giant cat?"

Aurora shoots me a look, making my jaw snap shut and lower my head. This is a talk between alphas and I need to stay out of it.

"Izzy is still new to the change and their run in was my responsibility. I hadn't yet told her of the other supernaturals that might be in the woods. When she smelt your sent, she went to investigate. I apologize for the confrontation."

Sam regards me wearily, only pulling his gaze away to shoot Jacob an annoyed look as he speaks out of turn.

"Bella, how is this possible? How are you one of them? Since when?"

"Since I bit her when you left her for dead against an avenge seeking red-head vampire," Ivy snarks, throwing her arm casually around my shoulders in silent support. "Those things don't have souls you know. Red heads- not vampires. Though those can be a bit evil too."

My ex-friend scowls, turning his attention to the smallest cat- and the expression freezes on his face. Because she's pressed against my side, I can feel Ivy go completely ridged. A sudden burst of unexplainable emotion bombards my empathic link, and my eyes widen.

"Are you kidding me?!" I snarl turning my ire to Jake, who is now just staring slack jawed and slightly confused at my pride mate. "Are you _kidding_ me?!"

I take a step forward, ready to shove him with all my werecat strength, but a warm hand envelopes my wrist. I turn my head, glaring into the pleading eyes of my packmate (the brown color almost completely overtaken by the cat).

"Izzy…" The imprint connection pushes insistently at me through our own pack connection, dim in comparison to what I felt when I imprinted, but still demanding for me to see, too acknowledge, to accept.

I lower my glower to the ground; knowing that I can't blame Ivy or Jacob for something that neither have control over. Besides, I'm not near as angry at Jacob as I am at my own imprint. And he's done nothing to hurt Ivy.

Aurora examines the three of us with pursed lips before turning back toward the man who I thought took my best friend from me.

"Perhaps we should pick this up at another time," she suggests.

Sam nods slowly, scrutinizing Jacob and Ivy as well. "Yes. I think that would be best. It appears we both have things to discuss." With that, he turns and disappears into the trees, his pack following after him. Embry has to nudge Jacob, guiding him until they are both out of sight.

"Well," Alexis grins, punching our sister hard in her shoulder to draw her attention away from the tree line the wolves had disappeared into. "Who knew little ol' Forks Washington would be so interesting."

"No kidding," Ian drawls, but he's smiling too.

* * *

 **A/N: Here you guys go: please enjoy. And let me know what you think!**

 **~Silver~**


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